OP Cricket
Pocklington Pixies CC 2014
L-R David Nuttall, Andy Billington, Malcolm Milne
A season of celebration sandwiched in between (or
is it bookended now?!) nostalgia. Andy Billington
(77-84) chose the first game of the season to be his
last ever and, having had a foot in both camps, it was
fittingly against the Yorkshire Gentlemen at Escrick
Park. Sadly, he bowed out with a rare defeat as captain
and only 4 runs with the bat when he opened the
innings with his School 1982 captain Marcus Townend
who went on to make a well-crafted 49. (My recent
memory of Andy’s keeping was in this year’s OP game
and his stumping off a Frankie Beal leg side wide!)
Charles Lambert (01-08), 26, and Chris Suddaby
(02-10), 29, put together a good middle order stand
and AJ Clarke (01-09) was just starting to dominate
on 16 n.o. when an unexpected declaration was
announced with the score on 154 for 8. In reply, the
YGs got home with 3 overs to spare on 155 for 7.
Good bowling by all kept the game interesting and
Chris Suddaby, Henry Mitchell (91-02) and Frankie
Beal (11-13) each picked up a couple of wickets.
The 27th Worsley Cup match took place at
Pocklington’s picturesque Burnby Lane ground in July.
Another win for the Pocklington Pixies over the Town
side extended their dominance in the competition
winning for the 6th consecutive year and they now
total 18 wins since Oliver Worsley presented the
Trophy in 1988 to mark sponsors day.The statisticians
were wondering if this was the youngest Pixie side
to take to the field with an average age of 19. Greg
Drewery (45) and Chris Suddaby (28 and fresh from
his record 180 n.o in the Monday league 20 over
contest!) gave the Pixies an excellent start and Rob
Bradley (81) – playing in his 10th consecutive Worsley
Cup match and closing in on Phil Balderson’s (8287) record 12 (out of his 17 appearances) – and
Jack Bolam (96-05) (55) continued the good work.
Wickets then fell quickly as the last of the 45 overs
loomed. Finally the Pixies totalled a very challenging
269 for 7 wickets.
An excellent tea put the Pixies in good heart ready
to defend their total knowing that Driffield’s Pakistani
ULB Professional was going to lead the run chase.
Asad and skipper Alex Downey put on 51 for the 1st
wicket until the latter fell deservedly to Jonty Atkinson
as the youngster enjoyed and reacted favourably to
the challenge set by the two good batsmen. Likewise,
Chris Suddaby who claimed the key wicket of Asad
(48). Andy Anderson (62) then kept the game alive
for the Town and kept the fielding side on their toes.
James Hanley then forced him into an error with man
of the match Rob Bradley holding on to a good catch.
Hanley and Tom Benthall (08-13) then wrapped up
the tail finishing with four wickets apiece leaving the
Town 75 short of their target on 195. Club Chairman
Andy Inns (83-90) when presenting the trophy
to Pixie skipper Jack Bolam also thanked the many
people who had made the day possible.
Following the Worsley Cup match came the
celebration in the form of the 50th tour to Kent
and Sussex. In 1965 Roger Kirk (Former Staff, 6165) undertook the task of finding a new location
to try and improve the fixture list after 9 tours to
North Wales started by the Founder Mike Stevenson
(Former Staff, 55-67). Since ’65, the tours to Kent and
Sussex have continued annually and been enjoyed by
over 300 Pixies so far. In order to celebrate the 50th
tour, present and past tourists generously donated
to a ‘Hosts Fund’ and the six host clubs gratefully
received £225.00 each to go towards their junior
cricket. Thanks go to all our contributors for their
generosity.
Considering the overall weather the tourists were
lucky to play 5 out of the 6 scheduled fixtures when
during the week Hastings, the tour base, had the
highest rainfall for one day in the country followed
two days later with the most sunshine for a day!
Neil Readman
Unfortunately torrential rain meant the first fixture
at Holmesdale could not be played in spite of the
efforts of the hosts. A 20 over contest was eventually
a last resort but another downpour just before the
rescheduled start meant that even this shorter game
could not get started. On Monday at Eastbourne
the main pitch was unplayable but an enjoyable
encounter took place on the very good ‘back pitch’.
In the Eastbourne total of 158 there were wickets for
Greg Drewery, Alex Downey and Chris Bilton. Even
though batting was not easy the Pixies were 124 for 4
in reply thanks to Adam Iyer (96-06), Chris Bilton and
Steve Burdett but then a dramatic collapse saw them
all out for 147. A disappointing finale for the skipper
Neil Readman’s (74-76) Pixie career!
A similar collapse occurred on Tuesday on a rainaffected wicket at Haywards Heath. Skipper Henry
Mitchell and Adam Iyer rescued the side from
47 for 7 with only Joe Moore (82-91) and Steve
Burdett making significant contributions early on and
eventually the side were able to post a defendable
total of 137. At 45 for 1 things looked bleak but the
introduction of Tom Townend aided by a superb catch
on the boundary by Will Stephenson to remove the
local star started the first five wicket haul for Tom
to change the game. Adam Iyer and Giles Woodruff
(84-94) then took the last 5 wickets giving the Pixies
victory by 45 runs. Marden on Wednesday struggled
to match the Pixies batting when the first 6 in the
order – Alex Downey, Miles Picknett (97-84), Joel
Hughes, Matthew Atkinson (85-93), AJ Clarke and
Tom Townend – all made over 20 enabling skipper
Marcus Townend