Ovo Continue Perfect Start to Season
Some say it has never happened before with a year beginning with 2, some say that the last time it happened Alan Fletcher was a strapping young batsmen scoring runs at unprecedentedly rapid rate of 1.5 runs an over. Either way the entire club is racking their brains trying to remember the last time that Ovington’s senior teams began their season with a perfect six wins from six games. Admittedly, some of those six victories have been more straight forward than ever, and some were outright nail-biters.
Saturday 2nd May, Ovington 1st XI vs Pickering 2nd XI
Ovington: 81/10 (26.3); Croot 5/25, Addison 4/19
Pickering: 80/10 (31): Edmond 30; Cookson 5/17, Wright 4/25
Ovington won by 1 runs
Scorecard: https://ovington.play-cricket.com/website/results/7351280
A low-scoring thriller with a nerve-jangling finish greeted Jacob Lamb (Sponsored by Ged Bell Butchers) as he assumed the captaincy for the first time for Ovington. Returning off the back of running the London
Marathon, he may have hoped for a calm, comfortable win, but that is not the Ovington way.
Having won the toss and chosen to bat on a beautiful, warm day, Ovington lost Tom Cookson, the previous week’s top scorer, early as he was caught behind after driving outside off stump. Ash Garner Steel (Sponsored by York and Selby Tutors) made a bright start to his inning, driving a couple of fours through the covers as he and Joe Whale (Sponsored by Hair by Fran) looked to settle in.
However, Whale fell nicking Graham Addison behind, before Garner Steel was bowled through the gate by Tom Croot. Two overs later, Lamb also fell to Croot, whose left-arm in-swing was causing havoc for Ovington as they collapsed from 22/1 to 23/5 as Oliver Dodson top-edged Addison to mid-wicket. Matthew Wright and Lucas Moore (Sponsored by Good Food Shop) staged a mini-recovery, playing calmly. Just as they looked to have settled the nerves, as Wright drove Croot straight for four and
kept the scoreboard ticking, Croot swung one through Wright’s defences to bowl him, followed next ball by repeating the treatment to Dom Everard, claiming a cheap five-wicket haul and leaving Ovington’s innings in pieces at 41/7. Addison continued to cause damage, earning another edge behind to remove Owen Price. Harry Eckersley-Wilson joined Moore, and he found a good balance between attack and
defence, picking off a couple of boundaries when Croot and Addison, perhaps tiring after
long spells, offered width or drifted onto his pads. A change of bowling brought an end to
Moore’s vigil, as he drove George Hodgson straight to cover, as Ovington slumped to 60/9.
Harry was joined at the crease by his brother, Jack, and the pair gave Ovington an outside
sniff as they survived for long enough to allow 21 more runs to be added, mostly in byes as
Pickering showed their first signs of sloppiness. Jack Eckersley-Wilson (Sponsored by Twocan Mentor) then top-edged Addison to gully to wrap up the innings, Addison finishing with four having worked effectively in tandem with Croot, setting up a chase of 82 to win.
Defending a low total, Ovington felt their hopes hinged on making early inroads and causing
some panic amongst the Pickering batting. This did not materialise, as Pickering’s openers
played positively and looked to take any potential nerves out of the chase. Captain Kieran
Edmond found the boundary frequently, picking off a pair of big pull shots against Jack
Eckersley-Wilson and cutting when given any width outside off.
At 42/0, both sides could have been forgiven for drifting a little and thinking the game was
more or less done. When Edmond tried to take on Harry Eckersley-Wilson’s (Sponsored by Good Food Shop) arm for a second run, though, he found himself a yard short as Moore removed the bails from a good throw. Matthew Wright (Sponsored by York’s Hidden History) was brought on to try and take advantage of this opening, and immediately found some extra bounce and movement to catch the glove of the other opener, Thomas Adams, Moore taking a comfortable catch.
Cookson (Sponsored by The Phoenix Club Bolton), introduced at the other end, began to spin a web and ensnare the Pickering batsmen as they struggled to get the innings moving again. An edge popped up off the bat of David Greenlay, taken comfortably by Garner Steel at slip as 42/0 became 46/3. A nerve-settling partnership between George Hodgson and bowling hero Croot followed, as they continued to chip away at the required runs, taking the score to 63 before Hodgson aimed a wild swing at a Cookson leg-break and edged to slip where Garner Steel dived to his right to take a good catch. Croot then threw away his good work, scuffing a pull shot to mid-wicket off Wright, once again opening the door for Ovington at 63/5.
What followed was a remarkable couple of overs. Wright squeezed a ball between bat and
pad to bowl Thomas Horsley before taking an early contender for catch of the season off his
own bowling next ball. A solid straight drive was plucked one-handed, diving to his right to
set off scenes of jubilation for Ovington. Having guaranteed two points with their bowling
efforts, Ovington had their tails up and were feeling greedy for more, whilst Pickering were
showing signs of their nerves.
Another wicket fell to Cookson next over, bowling left-handed Martyn Piercy back through
the gate with a ripping leg-spinner, making the score 70/8 and all three results resting on the
table. The tension was present in every ball, every swing and a miss, every run and every
piece of fielding. When Addison swung Wright over cover for four, Pickering must have felt
they might yet close out the game.
Cookson stepped up, however, and bowled bravely, tossing the ball up and inviting Addison
to try and win the game with one blow. With the score on 77, Addison took the bait and
swung Cookson high into the leg side, where Dodson took a high-pressure catch above his
head, looking into the sun. 77/9 meant that one good hit could tie up the scores or win the
game for Pickering, and when Tom Cleary hit one straight past mid-off, they might have
thought that was enough, but Lamb pulled the ball back just inside the boundary and kept
the game alive, giving Cookson more opportunities at Edward Frank. He survived a
confident LBW shout, but then a quicker ball got between bat and pad and bowled him,
leaving Pickering short by one run, bowled out for 80.
From 42/0 to 80 all out, Ovington engineered a devastating collapse to cling on for a
heart-stopping victory. All agreed they had probably lost a few years off their lives with this
game, but Ovington can take a lot from the mental fortitude they demonstrated to win after
being so far behind in the game.
Saturday 2nd May, Easingwold 3rd XI vs Ovington 2nd XI
Easingwold: 134/10 (38.3); A. Ramsay 35, Rowbottom 34; Busby 5/32, Rogerson 3/15
Ovington: 135/2 (23.4): Armes 32, Baqai 31, Craven 31*, Bowden 29*
Ovington won by 8 wickets
Scorecard: https://ovington.play-cricket.com/website/results/7351541
Ovington 2nd XI remained on the road for week 2 of the 2026 season as they made the trip to the pleasant environs of Stillington in order to take on an Easingwold 3rd XI.
Easingwold won the toss and elected to bat, a decision that that did not upset Captain Benji Busby and his team. The only issue being who was going to take share the new ball with Brandon Bishop (Sponsored by Saltwater Pups). In the end, the skipper (Sponsored by the Busby Family) took the unfamiliar role himself and was rewarded with a wicket at the start of his 2nd over, the delivery pleasingly cannoning into the top of off stump. From there, the game settled into a familiar pattern from the previous week with Busby and Bishop bowling tight and keeping the scoreboard under control but finding wickets harder to come by. After their spells, Ovo turned to the promising young spin twins of Dick Buckley and Simon Rogerson. When drinks came on after 20 overs, the home side had only managed to reach 56/1 and in were desperate need for some acceleration. However, Rogerson kept his parsimonious spell going after drinks and even picked up the wickets of the two set batsmen, angling one from the left hander’s leg stump to hit the top of middle and soon afterwards picking up the other batsman via a catch by Bishop in the covers. A third wicket came in his final over, genuinely spinning one from wide of the crease to hit the right hander’s off stump. Given that it was the 56 delivery he had sent down, to go with 54 legitimate deliveries from Buckley, it was about time one of them actually turned the ball. His final figures of 3/15 off 10 overs proving testament to the accuracy of his bowling. Buckley himself had also picked up a wicket by this point, a good catch by Liam Herringshaw as the ball looped over his shoulder. However, Dick was then on the receiving end of the long awaited Easingwold acceleration as the home team captain Steve Rowbottom came in late in the order and swung the willow with good effect. By the time he hit had hit the returning Busby for a big six over square leg, Rowbottom had reached 34 runs of 19 balls and was threatening to take the innings away from Ovo. However, Busby won the battle of the generals as he kept his nerve and bowled his opposite number who was going for one big shot too many. From there, the innings collapsed rather meekly with Busby picking up another wicket LBW and even kept his head along with keeper Oliver Craven to pick up a run out next ball. Busby picked up the final two wickets of the innings in his 10th over, both bowled, to claim a 5 wicket haul and to leave Easingwold all out for 133.
The Easingwold score appeared to be below par but how far below par it actually was became clearer as Kareem Baqai hit the first ball of the Ovington reply backward of point for four. Baqai and fellow opener Tom Armes (Sponsored by CDA Energy) found plenty of balls to hit in the next few overs, Baqai favouring shots square of the wickets and Armes hitting straight down the ground. Or hitting the ball with a forehand tennis smash, depending on which was more appropriate. By 10 overs into the innings, Ovo had reached 71 runs without loss and were well on their way. It was at this point that it was time for Thomas “2nd Team Steve” Irwin to make his most significant contribution of the day.
“Oh” He observed casually “This was about the point that the 2nd team reached last week wasn’t it, before we had a big collapse.”
Almost immediately, Baquai was bowled and soon afterwards Armes was given out LBW having been dropped behind the previous ball. In came Sam Bowden and Craven (Sponsored by S Knowles Motorcycles) to continue their good start to the season. The two of them successfully negotiated their way past the three figure mark and then began to accelerate. Singles were run, boundaries were hit and Bowden even launched one delivery high over the leg side fielders for a big six. Both remained there till the end to see their team home to an 8 wicket win with more than 16 overs still to play, although Armes was delighted to see that neither of them quite managed to overhaul his total so he could claim to be top scorer.
In the end, lots of players contributed to the win, the location was good place to play, the tea was good and the company of the Ovington team mates was perfectly adequate. What better a way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
Saturday 2nd May, Ovington 3rd XI vs Heslington 3rd XI
Ovington: 130/10 (32.4); Sehgal 45; Lugmayer 6/31
Heslington: 99/10 (24.3): Kemp 29; Chandra 3/17, Fern 3/39
Ovington won by 31 runs
Scorecard: https://ovington.play-cricket.com/website/results/7351677
Ovo 3rd XI arrived at the MCG (Millthorpe Cricket Ground) to a lovely deck, all set up and ready to rumble. Stand in captain Luke Smith lost the toss but to his surprise in 23 degree heat, Ovington were put into bat. A decision that shocked the nation.
Graham Walton was very pessimistic about his batting after his duck the week before but after some wise words from the skipper he was ready to go. Walton and Aaron Moorhouse( Sponsored by nutripact) got Ovington off to a good start putting on a solid 32 for the first wicket. Stockton then arrived at the crease and was unfortunate to get caught for just the 1 run. Then came the magic. Spencer Fern (Sponsored by York Plant Man) arrived at the crease and was assisted by a blinding innings from Kush Sehgal who went on to score 45 runs off 42 balls including 8 fours and six on his return to the team following injury. The score shot up to 110-4 before Fern unfortunately missed a straight one. This brought the anchor back to the crease for the second consecutive week with Luke Smith getting a very solid 4* from 26 deliveries. Unfortunately for Smith(Sponsored by Deniz Best Kebab), he ran out of partners before he could start scoring (so he says) and soon 110-4 ended with 130 all out in true 3rd team fashion. The pick of the Heslington bowling was Sol Lugmayer with 6-31. Many of his wickets given to him by a mix of silly shots to a straight ball. But that is cricket and we don’t let it get us down. We fight as a team and we win as a team.
With this being said, teas went down a treat again and after the usual apple stop with Luke Smith (Sponsored by Deniz Best kebab), the Ovington warriors went out to field.
Seth Young and Smith opened the bowling with Smith taking the early wicket of G. Pearce after a string of very poor deliveries. Fern joined Smith in the bowling attack and took the wicket of the Heslington number 2 in his first over. Smith took a leaf out of Dave Warner’s book with a slower delivery looping above the eye line of the batsmen, almost hitting the passing Jet 2 plane above. The Heslington captain didn’t know what to do so decided to stand in front of all 3 stumps giving the umpire an easy decision to send them back to the boundary. Fern carried on causing problems and was supported by some very good bowling from Tour De Italy cyclist Gaurav Chandra (3-15) even bowling someone around their legs. Fern (3-39) had bowled out his 10 overs and up stepped debutant Ethan Currie. Smith wanted to give Currie a good bowl at the opposition but Currie(2-0) had other ideas. He was told he choose that evening’s family takeaway if he played well so decided to take 2 wickets in his 3 balls to win the match. A dream debut with the ball in hand.
Heslington finished on 99 all out giving Ovington a 31-run win to keep the 100%-win rate going strong. H.Kemp top scored for the visitors with 29 from 37 balls.
Man of the match could have gone to numerous people, Kush Sehgal for his 45, Ethan Currie for his attitude to fielding and 2 wickets but this week it goes to Spencer Fern for his sensible batting, 3 wickets and all-round fielding performance.
We go again next week away to Duncombe Park.
Match reports by Matthew Wright, Simon Rogerson and Luke Smith