The Old Pocklingtonian | Page 17

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