Bowlers Hold The Line After Top Order Excels

Ellerslie’s 3rd XI knuckled down to secure their first victory of the season when they hosted Attenborough’s 4th XI on Saturday.

Despite the scorching heat and the cloudless skies, Attenborough opted to bowl first on a visibly green pitch at East Leake. But, Ben Skillings and Richard Earl were up to the task as they opened the innings with an imposing partnership of 79 runs. They persevered through a tidy spell of fast bowling from Ben Goodlass who conceded nothing in his first three overs. The batsmen remained unperturbed though not a single run was scored off the bat till the last ball of the sixth over when Skillings hurried for a double.

Three balls later, Earl broke the shackles hitting Goodlass for four and there was no turning back. Skillings took a particular liking to the spinners who did not gain much purchase on this pitch. Captain Sam Randall altered the field and switched between bowlers, still fishing for the first wicket twenty overs into the innings. He replaced Owen Crofts after a short spell of 3 overs in which the off-spinner was taken for a run a ball. The ploy worked eventually when Dillan Gill bowled Skillings with a good-length delivery that kept low and held its line to leave the scoreboard on 79/1 in the 21st over.

Umair Aziz walked in at number three and the runs stopped flowing for a brief interval of four overs that saw only a single from Earl. However, once Umair drove D. Gill to the hedge with a photogenic drive, Ellerslie were back on the offensive. The astounding frequency at which ball after ball was lost in this innings stands testimony to the flamboyant batting on display. Earl brought up his hundred in superb style with a six in the 41st over and the scoreboard moved to 192/1. The batsmen plundered 45 runs in the last five overs, taking the second wicket partnership to 152. In the final over, Umair reached his half-century with another dashing six and closed the innings on 231 with 9 wickets intact.

Carl Knight and Patrick Ryan opened the chase for Attenborough. Just five balls into the second innings, Finlay Traynor effected an edge to give Nadeem Akthar a very tough chance at first slip, but Knight survived. Seven overs later, Traynor had Ryan nick the ball to first slip again and he was unlucky to end his opening spell without a wicket. The batsmen found no solace at the other end as Usman Aziz had them jumping with his pace and movement. In a spell that lasted 9 overs, Usman raked up four maidens to return an economy of 1.44. But, it was skipper Jack Webb who drew first blood by dismissing Knight on 21 in the 17th over to break Attenborough’s opening stand of 52 runs.

Usman struck soon after as Ryan feathered the ball to Alex Noon whose unerring spontaneity made it look easy behind the stumps. With the scoreboard on 65/2 after 19 overs, Laura Wilson was brought into the attack and she trapped Brendan Ryan LBW on 10. In her next over, Akhtar caught captain Randall on 32 as Wilson snared another. Then, Matthew Cawley had Dillan Gill caught by Aziz and became the only spinner to take a wicket in the match. The fielders backed up the bowling well and Webb caught Crofts on 21 to give Wilson her third. Having run through the middle order, Wilson completed a resilient spell spanning 12 overs with a lethal average of 15.6. Traynor returned to finish the job and bowled Harjit Singh before grabbing Dickinson off his own bowling in the final over as Attenborough fell 42 runs short of the target.

The 3rd XI will take a lot of momentum from this all-round effort to Elms Park when they visit Ruddington next Saturday.