Both teams before the game begins
Well we were blessed with a break in the recent rain and following a late pitch inspection the match commenced with a new 15 over format.
In keeping with the recent matches, this one also had a nail biting finish and a controversial ending. The match had everything, dodgy bowling, even dodgier umpiring and a record crowd.
Under leaden skies, the Ebor Players won the toss and elected to put the Parish Council into bat. Openers Carole Green & Liam Godfrey marched confidently to the crease.
A good opening bowl by former captain Lisa Thornton kept the Parish Council pinned down as they were finding their feet. Making his debut Matthew Edwards was next up to bowl and before long had a wicket, bowling to Green the ball hit the wicket but controversially did not dislodge the bail. The umpire gave Green out nevertheless, not the last controversy of the night.
Martin Flook joined Godfrey at the crease: the scoring rate improved with the first boundary of the night being stuck by Godfrey. However third over and some accurate bowling by Julia Sykes saw him clean bowled.
Next to the crease was Martin Dudley and 1 ball later he was heading in the opposite direction as Sarah Pendleton, in her first ever cricket match, bowled him first ball. Things were beginning to look a bit grim for the Parish Council.
However, Flook was still there and was now joined at the crease by Chris Dale - one of the stars of last years match. Dale hit a brisk 10 before being forced to retire and Flook was steadily building his score. Captain Stewart Harrison now entered the fray and repeated his double figure score of last year before retiring along with Flook who scored 10. The match was finely poised.
Demon bowler Tim Bruce with Stewart Harrison looking on
To a mixture of applause and boos, enter Tom 'traitor' Davies an EPer controversially selected under some obscure selection rule that the Football Association of Ireland would have been proud of.
A good start however was quickly undone as Davies was cleaned bowled by Tim Bruce (pictured above) for 4. The crease was now occupied by Charlotte Drummond and Catherine Bruce and after a shaky start, another controversial umpiring decision and an early scare Drummond proceeded to make a very creditable 7 before being run out. Andrew Dunn joined the fray and shortly after was run out without having troubled the scorers.
However, the innings finished with a flourish with Jo Bewley making up for last years disappointment by cracking balls to the boundary with gusto. She and Bruce ended the innings by carrying their bats, the latter finishing 3 Not Out.
The Parish Council finished with a total of 61, which was solid but by no means unattainable.
The Ebor Players began badly with Lisa Thornton caught and bowled first ball off Flook for that rare bird a Golden Duck. Julia Sykes followed having made a solid 3 brilliantly caught by wicket keeper Bewley off the bowling of Godfrey - revenge for his earlier dismissal.
At the crease now were the youngsters Matthew Edwards and last year's man of the match Alistair Dunn. They kept the scoreboard ticking over until Chris Dale bowled a devastating over, taking 3 wickets as Edwards (2) Dunn (7) and Sarah Pendleton (0) fell in quick succession.
The match appeared to be heading the way of the Parish Council team. However about to enter the fray were some proper cricketers Ben Smith currently playing for Bishopthorpe Second team and Ebor Player director Tim Bruce. A flurry of 6's later saw both retiring on 13 & 15 respectively (for the uninitiated any batsman making double figures has to retire voluntarily.) The match was now finely balanced with plenty of overs in hand for the EPers but with 7 batsmen back in the pavilion.
Tracey Patrick & Emma Curran now occupied the crease and with a succession of quick singles kept the score ever creeping towards the required target of 62. With 1 over remaining and only 2 required both batsmen were retired by their team captain with victory seemingly assured, Patrick scoring 7 and Curran 4. Last batsmen in were Nigel Pendleton and Bev Linfoot both debutants.
6 balls remaining, 2 required, Godfrey is bowling the last over to Pendleton. First ball no run, second ball no run, third ball bowled him. The EPers have no batsmen left, but previously retired Ben Smith returns to the crease, to protests from the opposition, but there's no rule on it. Moments later he is hitting the winning runs via a boundary with just 2 balls remaining. So, the Ebor Players repeat last year's victory to go 2-1 up in the series.
photos courtesy of Martin Dudley