News

By Skipper Alex Smickersgill

2nd XI at Home vs Kippax
15th June 2019

Visiting teams to the Crossgates Oval are starting to learn there is a new gun in town (see picture). Anyone turning up expecting a stroll or laughing at ‘Gun’s’mule will be sent packing. Even without his blazing bat ‘Gun’ showed he can see bad ‘uns off with his bare hands. More of that later.

Kippax arrived expecting an easy 6 points. Keen to start the game early they suggested we bat until our full quotient of players arrived. Even the skipper was not naive enough to fall for that.

A damp pitch was matched by a damp atmosphere. This had been a difficult week and Dan Horry deserves great credit for getting out two 11s. The toss was crucial and amazingly skipper Alex won it. This in turn presented a dilemma because at the time of the toss we only had 8 players present. It was not a day to bat first but could we risk fielding with just 8 men? Gambling, the skipper put Kippax in.

Ray opened from the bottom end with an excellent controlled and threatening spell. His first 4 overs going for just 5 runs. At the other end Sam too was looking very dangerous and picked up a wicket with his fourth ball.

As the innings progressed the talents of our 2 debutants came to the fore. Harrison was showing excellent glovework behind the stumps. His willingness to sprint out from his keeper’s postion also prevented a number of quick singles. Coming on as first change PD virtually sealed up an end and bowled his 10 overs off the reel. Final figures of 4-34 in no way flattered him.

Good support from Tahir and Zaheer kept things tight but crucial was fielding which saw no catches dropped. Smart catches were taken by Ade, PD and even the skipper. Added to this were the efforts of Gun. Two swirling steeplers were swallowed with the cool of Clint Eastwood in his prime. Backing up the catching, was solid ground fielding with Ray and Adil covering huge areas of the field.

Will showed his cricketing nouse when he came on to bowl. Eschewing spin with a ball that was hard to grip, he was rewarded with 2 wickets by sensible variations of flight.

Restricting a top batting side to 174-4 was a commendable effort. Then the heavens opened…

Fielding point: Harrison

Man of the match: PD

By Alex ‘The Historian’ Smickersgill

2nd XI Away v Church Fenton

1st June 2019

In November 1922 when Howard Carter broke through into the burial chamber of Tutankhamen, a thing of awesome majesty and beauty, long hidden, was revealed to the world. A similar thing was experienced at Church Fenton on Saturday when John ‘Gun’ McDermott walked to the crease, willow light sabre in hand. When Crick and Watson stood up in the Eagle pub in Cambridge to announce the discovery of DNA, the boundaries of what is humanly possible were pushed that bit further into the distance. Likewise as ‘Gun’ took guard the limits on one man’s capabilities were about to be extended. Human history has unfolded through a series of transformative events; the discovery of fire, the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution etc. Add to this list of seismic changes, the batting of ‘Gun’ McDermott. I am sure you will agree that in summarising this, your correspondent has managed to give these events an appropriate sense of proportion.

Church Fenton is a road. The flattest track and fastest outfield in the division. Unsurprisingly Church Fenton chose to bat on a steamy, sauna like day. Early promise was provided by Ian Medlicott’s first ball; an absolute Jaffa that nipped back to take out middle and off. After this initial breakthrough the second wicket pairing showed their knowledge of their own track by continuously cutting balls from off the stumps or just outside. This can only be done if the batter has complete confidence in the pitch. All Crossgates’ bowlers bowled well with minimal reward. Sam Bentley produced his best spell for the team. Bowling with pace and hostility, he gave the hurry up to set batsmen and in the context of a high scoring game his 5 overs for 16 runs was a commendable effort. Ian’s 2 for 29 off 7 was also a great performance. The other wicket was deservedly taken by Ray when Adil pouched the edge. Church Fenton batted with a freedom that comes with familiarity with a benign strip. One area we could learn from them was that their running between the wickets and pushing of quick singles was excellent from over 1 to over 40. A stand of 206 for the second wicket was the bedrock of their eventual 234-3.

The Crossgates reply began with great promise. An opening stand of 51 was dominated by Adil. Such was the cleanness and power of his hitting that his 39 contained  six 4s and two 6s. He was very unlucky when another brutal strike that seemed destined for 6 was juggled and caught on the very edge of the boundary. With Adil’s departure the strike rate inevitably slowed. Now the Church Fenton skipper demonstrated his local knowledge by packing the boundary and taking all pace off the ball. This was backed by good fielding and excellent catching with Will, Ian and Paul being notable victims. When a useful partnership between Paul (16) and Zaheer (15) was broken, it seemed as if the the innings was sputtering to a conclusion like a candle burnt to the wick.

Suddenly a hush descended as if the whole of nature was drawing breath, aware of the deeds of daring do about to be witnessed as ‘Gun’ strode to the crease. A few perfunctory slaps straight back to the bowler gave no hint of what was to follow. The first hint that we were witnessing events of historic import came when Rob Friend ran a 2. I will repeat that; Rob Friend ran a 2. What is more it was only just outside the time of the London marathon winner.

This unleashed the ‘Gun’. With the eye and force of a shinty playing Jedi, ‘Gun’ proceeded to smite the Church Fenton bowling to all parts of North and West Yorkshire. Five mighty 4s were smeared, some even off the middle of the bat. Solid defence and a single to Rob allowed the 9th wicket to add 30 and a bonus point for achieving 75% of the Church Fenton innings was looming into view. When Rob departed, George Warner came out to join ‘Gun’. A landmark moment came when George scored his first run for Crossgates but sadly was out soon after. ‘Gun’ blew the smoke off the end of his bat and returned it to its holster. Leaping aboard his horse he rode off into the sunset.

Picking over the bones, what do we learn? On a hot and muggy day we showed grit. There was hostile bowling from Sam and great striking from Adil. But most of all, we will all be able to say ‘I was there’ when ‘Gun’ strode into town like Clint Eastwood minus the poncho and cheroot and made the bad guys rue the day they met him.

Up the Gates.

Fielding point: Ray
Man of the match (inevitably): ‘Gun’ McDermott

By Skipper Alex Smickersgill

2nd XI Home v South Milford
11th May 2019

Is there a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than wrestling a humongous sheet of tarpaulin in the midst of a downpour? These were the major fun and frolics to be had at the Crossgates Oval this Saturday.

Through what Lemony Snicket might term “a series of unfortunate events “, we found ourselves short a man for the first time in about 3 seasons. After winning the toss, skipper Alex made the slightly dubious decision to insert the oppo. The logic, if that’s what it was, that track, outfield and everything else was very damp. A tidy opening spell by Sam and Zaheer produced a wicket for not too many. But certain worrying signs were already emerging; the ball was becoming like a bar of soap and hard for the bowlers to grip and, this was one of the less mobile fielding sides Crossgates had put out. Indeed as the afternoon progressed and South Milford wracked up a mighty score there was plenty of time to scrutinise the running style of all the players and I offer the following observations:

Rob Friend – he doesn’t do running.

John Mac – the original cartoon figure. His legs pump away with all the energy of Wile E. Coyote just before he realises he has run off the edge of the cliff and is about to plunge into the Grand Canyon.

Paul Harker – strains the sinews like a competitor in a “tough mudder” race whilst making slightly slower progress than a competitor in a “tough mudder” race.

Tahir Abbas – scuttles about like a head waiter trying to serve several angry customers whilst not wanting to suggest he is running, so as to conceal from irate patrons that other people are also fuming about the wait.

Simon Shepherd – approaches the ball like a hungry Maribou Stork chasing a particularly lively lungfish at a watering hole in the dry season.

Jojo and Sam – gambol about like a couple of colts released into a field after a long winter in the barn.

Abdullah – ran himself into the ground for the cause of the team

Zaheer – see description for Tahir.

Skipper – as befits an old timer, stumbles forward like an OAP who has just had his Zimmer frame yanked away from him.

Simon, Rob and Adil were honourable exceptions but catches were shelled and in the last 20 overs the fielding became a little ragged. Jojo got 5 overs under his belt and came back well in trying circumstances. Paul picked up a wicket as did Zaheer and so did Rob in a tidy spell that was a real bonus. Nevertheless South Milford made 242-3, which was probably more than a defendable total in the conditions.

So to Crossgates’ innings. 7 overs were faced with 3 ritual dances with the aforesaid tarpaulin before common sense prevailed and the game was abandoned. We lost an unfortunate wicket to a run out but otherwise looked comfortable without threatening to overhaul South Milford’s monumental score.

So 3 games in to a new division we remain unbeaten. Brighter days lie ahead. Up the Gates!!

Man of the match: Abdullah Mohammed

Fielding Point: Simon Shepherd