Ovington 1st XI Pick Up a Couple of Wins in June and July
Saturday 28th June, Heworth 2nd XI vs Ovington 1st XI
Ovington 214/10 (44.4); Cookson 52, Whale 50; Foster 4/37, Mair 3/20, Boothroyd 3/48
Heworth 159/10 (38.2); Martin 39, Mair 38, Foster 32*; Kitching 3/23, Wright 3/35, Cookson 3/50
Ovington won by 55 runs
Scorecard: https://ovington.play-cricket.com/website/results/6777278
The end of June marked a couple of things of note for Ovington Cricket Club: firstly, this was the final game of the first half of the season before swinging round to repeat the fixtures once more. It has been an up and down season thus far, with five wins and five losses coming into this game, making the second factor all the more important: with the end of June comes the end of university and school terms, bringing some increased player availability to the club.
A more-or-less full strength Ovington team chose to bat at Heworth, backing the long batting line-up to put pressure on Heworth and set up a challenging chase. This may have looked dubious when Alex Garner Steel nicked one behind attempting a drive outside off early on, a sharp catch off the impressive Ollie Foster creating an opening for Heworth. The returning Tom Cookson partnered with Joe Whale to steady the ship, putting on 89 together as they complemented each other’s styles well. Whale was solid and watchful, rotating the strike nicely to give Cookson the chance to attack the boundaries. Whale reached his fifty at a steady pace, laying a platform for the innings to accelerate, before chipping up and getting out, the moment compounded as poor scoreboard visibility had meant his teammates did not realise he had reached the milestone. Cookson, too, reached his fifty with a flurry of boundaries, pouncing on anything short from the spinners to pull it and access the leg side, before also returning to the pavilion shortly after the landmark.
Following Whale and Cookson’s partnership, the innings moved on at pace, both in runs and wickets. Charlie Buckley and Tom Armes played with some fluency, driving and pulling respectively to move the score along, but wickets began to tumble. From 176/4, Ovington may have hoped to target 240 or more, but Foster’s return and Ollie Mair’s introduction to the attack pegged Ovington back. Foster targeted the stumps, picking up an LBW and two batsmen bowled to bag himself a four-wicket haul, whilst Mair proved hard for batters to pick off, earning three catches as batters tried and failed to target boundaries. Slipping to 214, it was a decent total, but Ovington may have wondered if they left runs out there.
Heworth’s reply had them facing a fired up Olly Garner Steel. Bowling quick, often testing batters’ back-foot play, he unsettled both openers with some awkward pace and bounce without getting the reward he would have hoped for. Dom Kitching meanwhile settled in to his usual metronomic approach, testing the batters outside off stump, quickly earning a nick through to Tim Burgess behind the stumps to create an opening.
The introduction of Matthew Wright early on at the other end created immediate intrigue and drama. In his first over, an appeal for LBW against Heworth skipper, Chris Klays, was upheld, only for Ovington captain Armes to recall him in an admirable display of sportsmanship, recognising ball had struck bat first. It was not costly for Ovington, as two balls later, Wright found the pad without any doubt and sent Klays back for good. In his next over, Wright again was on the mark, a quick yorker pinning Robin Kay on the toe to be LBW, Heworth now 30/3 and struggling.
A short recovery between Jacob Inkster and Neil Martin was curtailed at 56 as Wright, turning down Armes’ offer to move slip out to mid-wicket, found the outside edge where Armes took it well low to his right. Heworth were in the mire now as Wright had ripped the heart out of their top order, but the solid Martin and hard-hitting Mair combined well to keep the game in the balance. Mair in particular proved frustrating and troublesome for Ovington, as a combination of big shots and a couple of edges kept boundaries coming frequently.
Harry Eckersley-Wilson came on and did an excellent job of tying Mair up for a couple of overs, slowing down his hitting and denying the boundaries. Mair, clearly keen to keep the scoreboard moving, sought to hit out against Cookson’s leg-spin, but could only top-edge one to A Garner Steel at deep square leg. Foster joined Martin, and at the second drinks break, they would have felt in with a good chance of taking Heworth home as the pair put on 25 untroubled runs. Kitching came back into the attack, enticing Martin to take him on only to find Armes at long-on.
From there, the innings unravelled quickly, as Kitching and Cookson shared the wickets with a straightforward run out to compound Heworth’s disappointment. Much like how Ovington’s earlier innings had fallen apart, Heworth fell away from 135/5 to 159/10 in relatively few overs, leaving Foster stranded on 32*, unable to take Heworth home. A strong team effort for Ovington saw runs and wickets shared around, but Cookson earned himself player of the match on his return to the side with a well-made fifty and three-wicket haul.
Saturday 12th July, Clifton Alliance 2nd XI vs Ovington 1st XI
Ovington 201/6 (45); Steel 50, C Buckley 42, Lamb 40, Armes 33
Clifton Alliance 157/10 (40.4); H Watkinson 60, Lardner 30; O Garner Steel 4/30
Ovington won by 44 runs
Scorecard: https://ovington.play-cricket.com/website/results/6777289
From week to the next, trying to guess how Ovington will perform is a fool’s errand. Fresh off a drubbing by New Earswick, Ovington showed up at top-of-the-table Clifton Alliance on a scorching hot day and laid down a strong, team effort, beating an incumbent top-placed team for the second time this season. Doing so with a number of key players missing made it all the more impressive.
Winning the toss and choosing to bat, captain Tom Armes got his way, protecting his bowlers from the worst of tough conditions on a cloudless, sunny afternoon. Early signs were that batters would get good value for their shots on a lightning quick outfield, as Alex Garner Steel twice pierced the infield and saw the ball race away to the boundary.
Clifton bounced back strong, taking advantage of the early movement with the new ball. Joe Whale fell victim to a beautiful nip-backer from Jack Heartshorne, bringing it past his defence to hit off stump. Shortly after, Garner Steel played around a full ball to be LBW against Adam Cockrill, leaving Ovington 21/2 in what looked like good batting conditions.
It became clear as the day progressed that the pitch was a little trickier to play on than first expected, with bowlers getting good reward for hitting a good length and a bit of seam movement available. Batters would have to work hard to earn their runs, waiting for loose balls and learning the pace of the pitch. That was exactly how Charlie Buckley and Jacob Lamb went about their partnership. Buckley punished bowlers who strayed too straight, clipping through midwicket with good effect and driving through the covers when offered width. Lamb found the going tough at first, getting dropped at slip on 5 off Heartshorne and finding it difficult to score. He settled after his let off, beginning to drive the ball and profit when the opening bowlers had to rest, oozing confidence as he lofted the leg spin of Mark Bell straight down the ground for four.
After putting on 79 together, Buckley and Lamb both were sent back to the pavilion in quick succession. First Lamb was adjudged to have tickled one off his hip through to the wicket-keeper, Finlay Hodgson, who moved well down the leg side to take a sharp catch off Joey Watkinson’s off spin. The next over, Buckley slashed a drive at Bell only to edge it to slip who pouched it safely. Needing another partnership to guarantee a competitive total, Armes was joined by an Ovington stalwart, Barry Steel.
Armes and Steel started cautiously, getting a feel for the pace of the wicket and averting a collapse like the week before. Gradually, their patience paid off. First, they started running well, rotating the strike and preventing dot balls from piling up. Then, as the bowlers wilted in the heat, they opened up. Armes showed his customary power, pulling the returning Cockrill strongly over midwicket, whilst Steel drove with authority, sending several balls skidding through the covers, latching onto any width outside off stump.
A partnership of 75 gave Ovington a good platform, before Armes was yorked excellently by Cockrill, preventing him from showcasing his full destructive potential in the final overs.Young Wilf Metcalfe, making his 1st XI league debut, joined Steel, and saw him through to his 50, before Steel also perished, caught well on the point boundary in the penultimate over.
Matthew Wright joined Metcalfe for the final ten balls, which the pair took for ten runs, tipping Ovington up to 201 in their 45 overs, a respectable effort against a well-organised bowling unit.
In return, Olly Garner Steel got Ovington off to a strong start with the ball, combining with his brother, Alex, for a strangle down the leg side to remove Jonty Beer 12 runs into Clifton’s innings. Xavier Lardner came in at three and showed early intent to take the run chase head on. Targeting Harry Eckersley-Wilson particularly, he threw the bat to good effect, launching a six through the sightscreen (literally shattering a hole!), a couple of big pulls through the leg side and clobbering a couple through the covers. Eckersley-Wilson held his nerve well, bouncing back quickly to get Lardner caught at point by Armes, luring him into one shot too many. Two overs later, another sharp catch at point by Lamb, again off Eckersley-Wilson saw Andrew Simpson dismissed, Clifton sitting precariously at 57/3.
From there, Ovington took a firm grip on the game. Wright came on and bowled Charlie Rose with his second ball, sneaking one under the bat. Wright combined with Neil Metcalfe to form a miserly bowling partnership, the pair going at under three an over to frustrate Clifton’s scoring efforts and make the required rate challenging. The next partnership managed just ten runs in six overs, before Metcalfe earned a reward for his control as Max Thomas dragged a wild heave onto his stumps, the score now 81/5.
The game drifted for Clifton, Metcalfe going for just 30 runs from his 11 overs and Wright only 17 from eight. Harry Watkinson stayed firm through this period, however. Struggling with an injury, his mobility was limited, but he played solidly in defence and picked his moments to play a big shot. The switch appeared to be flicked when Hodgson was dismissed, caught and bowled by Wilf Metcalfe (Neil’s son) who took a sharp catch above his head to his right to claim his maiden 1st XI wicket. Watkinson attempted to target Metcalfe and Barry Steel, driving Metcalfe through the covers and eyeing up the short leg side off Steel.
Watkinson was fighting a lone battle, though. Steel bowled Cockrill through the gate to leave Clifton 133/7, at which point O Garner Steel was brought back on to kill off any remaining hope for the home side. He beat J Watkinson for pace, hitting the top of off as recommended in the coaching manual. H Watkinson brought up his 50 off B Steel before slog sweeping him for six, but O Garner Steel put paid to any notion of Watkinson running the game close, following him to the leg side to bowl him off his pads. Three balls later, Bell chipped Garner Steel to mid-on where Lamb held on comfortably, giving Garner Steel his fourth wicket of the day and best figures for Ovington of 4/30 to earn him player of the match.
Ovington took the win by a healthy margin of 44 runs in the end, avenging their loss earlier in the season and keeping them within sight of the top teams in the league.