Garner Steel Century Caps Winning Weekend For Club
It is said that on looking on his achievements, Alexander the Great wept salt tears because there were no worlds left to conquer. Alex Garner Steel may not have conquered the known world but his own achievements in the cricketing sphere are stacking up nicely. His particular triumph this last weekend was just one of many for Ovington as they managed their first clean sweep of the season.
Saturday 7th June, Ovington 1st XI vs Dringhouses 1st XI
Ovington: 248/7 (45); A Garner Steel 103, Whale 44, Buckley 33; Simpson-Rooke 4/51
Dringhouses: 116/9 (34.5); Simpson-Rooke 38; Wright 5/17
Ovington won by 132 runs
Scorecard: https://ovington.play-cricket.com/website/results/6777258
Alex Garner Steel (available to sponsor) starred with a fluent century in the local derby between Ovington and Dringhouses, bringing up the 1st XI’s first hundred of the season in the process. Garner Steel’s efforts underpinned his team’s highest total of the season so far, setting up a comprehensive drubbing of their neighbours in a dominant display by the home side.
Having lost the toss on a day where rain threatened throughout, Ovington could have been wary of the conditions but opening pair Garner Steel and Joe Whale (sponsored by York & Selby Tutors) put together a fine 106-run opening stand to settle any nerves and establish a strong platform. The two complemented each other well: Whale was watchful, rotating the strike and wearing down the new ball with good effect; Garner Steel took on the role of aggressor, severely punishing any hint of width with fluid front-foot drives and compact back-foot punches through the covers. Whilst he had a moment of good fortune, being dropped early after nicking a late leave off Verdonk’s bowling, he capitalised well and played positively. Another bit of good luck fell his way when he was dropped after passing 50, but either side of these lapses, he played stylishly.
A feature of Garner Steel’s innings was the consistent tempo. Where in previous weeks he had occasionally become bogged down without finding an outlet for scoring, in this game he never went more than a few balls without scoring. He manoeuvred the ball into gaps well, ran hard to put pressure on the fielders, and targeted bad balls with ruthless efficiency. As his innings progressed he became more expansive, sweeping and pulling the slower bowlers to disrupt their lengths and reaching his hundred off 101 balls before attempting a repeat of the sweep which brought him the landmark the next ball and missing it to leave him bowled for 103.
A series of cameos from the rest of the batters helped to propel Ovington’s innings along. Charlie Buckley (sponsored by Sam Prongnell) hit a breezy 33, full of his typical drives and astute gap-finding. When he chipped back to the bowler B Johnson, Jacob Lamb (sponsored by Badger Elite Cricket Coaching) came in and started uncharacteristically quickly. Wickets started to fall semi-regularly now as Ovington looked to capitalise on the strong start, but runs flowed just as comfortably. Lamb hit 23 off 17 and Matthew Wright (sponsored by York’s Hidden History) clattered a handful of boundaries for 18 off 12 before both were out in the final overs, Simpson-Rooke the main beneficiary for Dringhouses. Ovington finished on 248/7, an imposing total which promised to give their bowlers plenty of room.
Dringhouses’ response started tamely. Their openers appeared to struggle against a tight opening spell from Olly Garner Steel (available to sponsor) and Owen Price (available to sponsor) , showing no real intent to get on top of an already challenging run rate. When Wright made a half stop at point, a mid-pitch conference between Snaith and Avey saw Snaith comfortably run out to leave the visitors 7/1 and going nowhere. Whilst no wickets fell to the opening bowlers, the damage to the run rate left Ovington well ahead in the game.
When change bowlers Jack Eckersley-Wilson (available to sponsor) and Neil Metcalfe (sponsored by Tom Ashby) came on, they each picked up wickets as Dringhouses looked to accelerate after their slow start. 34/1 became 36/4 very quickly, Eckersley-Wilson bowling Avey and Metcalfe picking up two in quick succession to make the chase look less like a mountain and more like a trip to Mars.
Enter Wright: fresh from being a ball magnet in the field (having taken a catch to accompany his run out), he was charged with bringing the innings to a swift conclusion. A wicket in his first over, a hard slap caught well at mid-off by Lamb, was followed quickly by a slower ball hitting the base of the stumps in his second. Simpson-Rooke, having led Dringhouses’ efforts with the ball, tried valiantly to hold the batting together too. A series of elegant flicks and drives took him to 38, a lone effort in the chase. He departed after a brief bit of resistance with Verdonk, edging through to Alex Garner Steel off Wright. The innings was wrapped up quickly after that, as Wright bowled the last two batters within three balls to round out the win and claim his first five-wicket haul of the season.
An all-round, comprehensive performance for Ovington, led by player of the match Alex Garner Steel, keeps them in the hunt in mid-table. Whilst sterner challenges will surely face them as the season goes on, putting together back-to-back wins for the first time this year should boost confidence as they head into a fixture against Yapham with whom the are currently level on points.
Saturday 7th June, Ovington 3rd XI vs Cawood 1st XI
Ovington: 150/7 (40); Waidyaratne 29*, Jillani 29* ; Reader 4/38
Cawood: 129/8 (40); Akers 52; Warner 4/31
Ovington won by 21 runs
Scorecard: https://ovington.play-cricket.com/website/results/6780123
With conditions meaning that no work had been done on Millthorpe before match day, it was Ground Force Assemble this week for the 3rds who jumped in to epitomise the meaning of the word team. An early start saw Simon Rogerson throw shades of a young Titchmarsh, making Dave Warner Big Tommy and leaving Luke Smith to surely be a Dimmock. Ollie Thrift came in like a floppy haired Picasso and between painting his own clothes and the crease the 3rds had beaten the weather.
Losing the toss Ovington were made to bat and from one end the Cawood Anderson bowled terrifically, making life difficult for the home batters with some dangerous and accurate swing bowling. The other end saw a slow left arm causing all sorts of problems as well. Graham Walton fell first to a snorter and for a while Will Hampel and Barry Steel steadied the Ovington ship. Both played with aplomb until 53/1 suddenly became 55/3 and nerves started jangling. Smith ran hard but fell before Jacob Mellows and Thrift showed some great shot play. Mellows in particular looking dangerous with the bat. Going still wasn’t easy throughout and Cawood’s very own Mr Grumpy bowled a slow accurate spell as first change. His bedside manner may need large improvement but his bowling less so. From one end he bowled 10 in a row making absolutely no friends whilst at the other another Cawood spinner tied the Ovo boys down.
Fortunately, Ovington have Uwin Waidyaratne. Warner came in for a quick few singles before falling on his sword with a run out but Waidyaratne remained resolute. Khurram Jillani joined in the fun and the runs started flowing. Admittedly the flow was stopped when KJ performed a Rey Mysterio worthy clothesline on his batting partner during the course of a quick single. Spencer Fern filled in for the injured Uwin who had retired not out and after a good last couple of overs Ovington finished on 150/7 off their allotted 40 overs.
Teas this week were again top notch, the Cawood boys even making the most of the Simon Rogerson Memorial Tent/Gazebo Structure which had been constructed and had left Go Outdoors fans in awe.
Ovington came out to bowl, Will Ellis making a brilliant breakthrough from a dangerous spell. KJ was tight at the other end and even though the Ovo boys pinched one more wicket, a very sharp catch from a lively Smith, Cawood started to pull away. Fielding was poor from Ovington, something rarely seen from the 3rds in recent years, and things were flat. But cometh the hour cometh the juniors. Lucas Moore, on for the still injured Uwin and making in his first sub appearance since his own broken collar bone earlier in the season, scooped one up and passed it to Fern who looked to have taken the bails off. Confusion followed about when and how the wickets had been broken but what appeared to be the right result was sportingly given by the Cawood umpires and off the batsman went. From there Ovington took over. Warner (as usual) bowled slowly but (as sometimes happens) it worked. 4 wickets came his way, it could have been 5 but unfortunately Steel was stuck on his Stannah Stairlift after a mechanical fault. During the spell KJ took a quick catch and Hampel, cool as a Maom eating cucumber, took a great catch on the boundary. Mellows and Moore rode the boundaries expertly, making huge contributions and Fern was excellent in the field. And so it came down to Steel to tie an end up. A job he executed brilliantly. Ellis, who had earlier stiffened up enough to have spent 48 hours in a morgue, managed to shake off a bad case of rigor mortis and bowled the last over to secure a famous win.
Again Ovington showed a huge team effort. As said before, 11 players make a team and every single person made a huge contribution, a big shout out goes out to wicketkeeping Walton.
Man of the match this week goes to Barry Steel with a real all round performance. We go again next week.
Sunday 8th June, Wheldrake 2nd XI vs Ovington 2nd XI
Wheldrake: 104/7 (20); Sathiyaseelan 29*; Price 3/10, Jillani 2/13
Ovington: 108/4 (17.5); Baqai 23; Nurse 1/18
Ovington won by six wickets
Scorecard: https://ovington.play-cricket.com/website/results/6888604
On a rather dreary Sunday, Ovington 2nd XI fielded first against a promising Wheldrake team. Benji Busby began the bowling attack, only giving away 4 runs in the 1st over. Spencer Fern opened from the other end, maintaining the pressure and cleaning up Wheldrake’s number two with and excellent delivery. Busby again kept it tight, maybe getting less than he deserved only giving away 2 runs in his second over. After another good over from Fern, proficient spin entered the attack in the form of Khurram Jillani, taking the wicket of Wheldrake’s number three before bowling a tactical wide, all part of a plan that ended in Wheldrake’s number 4 being ran out. Fern bowled his third over, potentially being impacted from the strong winds at the far end as the Wheldrake number 1 dug in and attempted to anchor his teams innings. More good overs came from KJ and Spencer, before KJ took his second wicket of the day in the 9th over, dismissing Wheldrake’s number 5. Busby returned, again keeping it tight, whilst KJ bowled an excellent maiden in the 11th. Wheldrake came under pressure, knowing they needed to kick on to post a competitive total. Owen Price entered the fray in the 13th over, taking a wicket with his 4th ball. Jack Eckersley-Wilson entered the attack in the 14th, who seemed to have a rather large attraction to the leg side. Wheldrake began to really kick on in the 16th over, at which point Eckersley-Wilson decided he wasn’t cut out for T20 bowling. With Wheldrake taking 21 runs from the 16th over, and Eckersley-Wilson looking greyer than the clouds above, the last 4 overs would be pivotal, with the remaining Wheldrakian batsmen looking to kick on over the 100 run mark. Price took the important wicket of the Wheldrake opening bat with the 1st ball of the 17th over, followed by another wicket in the 19th, ending with figures of 3-10 from his 4 overs. Gaurav Chandra bowled an excellent final over, only conceding 4 runs, with Wheldrake ending on a total of 104. Although this sounds like a small total for the T20 format, the long boundaries and imminent threat of rain meant Ovington still had a job to do to proceed to the next round.
Opening the batting in reply, Will Hampel and Kareem Baqai took a few balls each to get their eye in with the first boundary of the Ovo innings coming in the 5th over, Kareem hitting an excellent 4 through cover to the shorter boundary. Hampel followed suit in the 6th over with another 4, and the spirits in the Ovo camp began to rise. The required run rate began creeping up, and realising this, in the 10th over, Baqai and Hampel began to push harder, taking 8 runs from the first three balls. Baqai fell soon after, with Oliver Dodson coming to the crease. Dodson began well, taking three runs on his first ball but was then dismissed through what can only be described as voodoo magic, and not even the batsman nor his batting partner knew how the bails became dislodged from his stumps as the ball tailed down to fine leg. Will Hampel was run out soon after, and with darkening clouds overhead, moods in the Ovington camp became rather low. However, the youthful partnership of Ashley Garner-Steel and Oliver Craven soon turned these feelings around through the 13th over, with a selection of well placed shots and quick running, arguably pushed by good calling from captain Busby who could be heard from west Wheldrake pushing the young partnership on. Craven topped this positive batting off with a superb six over backward square leg. Straight after this shot, the game was halted as the rain came and covers were pulled onto the square. The covers were on then off then on again, before both captains and umpires had calculators out, working out what would happen if the game couldn’t be continued. Luckily, such brainpower was deemed unnecessary, as a break in the weather saw play resume with Ovington needing 29 runs from the remaining 35 balls. Craven and Garner-Steel continued their positive batting, before Craven was dismissed by a sharp delivery in the 16th over, bringing KJ to the crease. KJ showed his signature form of ‘hit out or get out’, smashing the ball for 4 from his first ball. Ovington only needed 9 to win from the 18th over, with KJ and Garner-Steel still at the crease. A single off the first three balls of the over meant KJ was on strike, with only 6 needed to win… we all knew what was coming. With the last ball of the 18th, KJ smashed a six over cow corner, sealing Ovington’s win and his own player of the match performance.
Match reports by Matthew Wright, Dave Warner and Jack Eckersley-Wilson