Well this the inaugural cricket match between the Ebor Players and  combined Parish Council/Millennium Trust team had it all. What began as a beautiful sun drenched evening ended with a nail biting finish and a wounded match winning hero.

The final ball is struck…but what happened next?

 

 

 

 

 

Having won the toss, Ebor Players captain Lisa “Fairy” Thornton elected to bat. Openers “Bossy Boots” Patrick and Ben “The Sound” Smith put on a solid partnership with the latter having to retire after hitting 3 consecutive boundaries off the bowling of Liam Godfrey, the first act in their unfolding sub plot.

Next in was captain Thornton who after making a stunning 3 runs was Run Out by a brilliant combination of fielding from “The Dude” Martin Dudley and Parish Council captain Stewart Harrison. That turned out to be the Parish Councils team only wicket of the night.

The scoreboard ticked along with Tim “Lord” Bruce and Steve Harrison both hitting boundaries, and there were scoring contributions from Chris Gajewicz, Julia Sykes, the aptly named “Comedy” Tom Davis (we are not talking about his wit and banter) and “Dancing” Diane Curran.

 

Tim ‘Lord’ Bruce bonks one to the boundary 

 

 

 

However tight bowling by “the Dude” Martin Dudley, Julian “Deadly” Davies, David Livesley, and Andrew Dunn who bowled to his son Alistair for some of the time, kept the Ebor Players total to 56. An indication of the overall bowling quality however was the fact that top scorer for the Players were extras at 25, with wides contributing 24 runs.

So a good total of 56 meant that the Parish Council team had to score nearly 6 an over, could they do it?

Openers Glynn Drummond and Julian Davies got them off to a flying start with a flurry of boundaries including the only 6 of the night, caught brilliantly by a spectator a rare example where those watching were probably better than those playing. Both retired on 13 and 11 respectively. Curiously however the Players had decided not to open with their best bowler Smith, what was the reason behind this tactical move?

The scoring continued slowly but surely with “Belter” Bewley and captain Harrison at the crease until a mix up over calls led to Harrison being Run Out. At last the Players had a wicket. Next up was another Harrison Jess “Slogger” Harrison, who batted gamely seeing out the best the Players had to throw at her, but still no sign of the Players best bowler.

Step up to the crease Liam Godfrey regarded by many on the Players team as a traitor and subjected to a chorus of boos and generally unpleasant barracking which umpires Green and Wilkinson had to note. Then surprise surprise on comes the previously anonymous Smith.

Godfrey was joined at the crease by his wife Cayley who gamely held off Smith bowling for 2 balls. Then it was Godfrey’s turn to face Smith, the previous barracking melted away, the field crowded round the batsman as there was complete silence, unique in any previous Ebor Players gathering.

Ball after ball rained down on the batsman who stoically defended, then end of over, mini crisis over. With 52 on the board and 3 overs remaining, and 4 batsman still to come in, captain Harrison pulled Liam Godfrey off, the match was well as won – or was it?

On comes Lizzie Patrick to bowl and 3 balls later Cayley Godfrey is out caught and bowled for the only non-Run Out wicket of the evening.

“Silly mid on” Green and Dudley are batting but the runs are now like thick set treacle and not flowing. Green gets a single, then disaster as another mix up leads to the run out of Dudley.

There’s tight bowling from Curran. Andrew Dunn is now at the crease and following the retirement of Green is joined by David “Lively” Livesey, “Lord” Bruce is bowling the last over, they go for a quick single, Dunn is slow out of the blocks another Run Out looks a certainty, the tension is unbearable, but no The Players miss the stumps, and the scores are level.

Two balls to go, Bruce to Livesley who skies one in the air. Underneath it is Diane Curran, if she catches it the Parish Council are all out, the Players win on account of having lost less wickets. Livesley is running for the single which if Curran drops the ball, the Parish Council win. The crowd cannot bear it as we appear to go into suspended animation the ball hangs forever in the air, Curran fumbles, the ball flies out of her hands, she has another attempt to cling on but to no avail. Cricket like life can be cruel. The Parish Council have won with one ball to spare, you could not have scripted a better ending.

But wait, as the rest of the Parish Council team exuberantly invade the pitch the hero of the hour Livesley is down injured felled by a stray ball from “Comedy” Tom and Livesley like Nelson at Trafalgar is fallen in this his most heroic hour.

For a few of us we can say “I was there”.

Scorecard

 

Ebor Players
T Patrick B Smith *L Thornton +T Bruce C Gajewicz S Harrison J Sykes T Davis L Patrick D Curran A Dunn   Extras                         25 TOTAL                                 56	Retired Retired Run Out Retired Retired Retired Retired Retired Retired NOT OUT NOT OUT	2 12 3 5 1 5 1 1 0 1 0
Parish Council / Millennium Trust
+G Drummond J Davies J Bewley *S Harrison J Harrison L Godfrey C Godfrey C Green M Dudley A Dunn D Livesley   Extras                         22 TOTAL   57	Retired Retired Retired Run Out Retired Retired c&b L Patrick Retired Run Out NOT OUT NOT OUT	13 11 5 1 1 0 0 1 0 2 1
‘* Captain + Wicket Keeper
Umpires: J Green & G Wilkinson Scorers: J Bettridge & I Hodson
RESULT: PARISH COUNCIL/MILLENNIUM TRUST WIN BY 1 WICKET