Rain washed out the whole NYSD cricket league programme on Saturday.
This deprived the 1st team an opportunity to take points off the league leaders Saltburn and close the gap at the top of the table. At least it left them fresh for the challenge of the National T20 finals day.
Playing at New Farnley Richmondshire faced Woodlands CC of the Bradford League in the semi-final game, the winner to play Driffield or Burnmoor in the final. Woodland would be keen to gain revenge for their defeat at Richmondshire’s hands in the National 40 over competition earlier in the season.
Richmondshire were elated when Josh Dowson (one for 28) claimed the wicket of Woodland’s captain and professional Brad Schmulian with just 17 on the board. This prompted a collapse with wickets for Harvey Websdale (two for 16) and Connor Blaxall-Hill (one for 22). Wickets from Sam Wood (four for 24) reduced them to 55 for seven and Sam then removed top scorer Liam Collins for 41 to make it 87 for eight. Hitting out by the tail added some respectability before Jonny Carr (two for 33) claimed the final two wickets.
With Woodlands 125 all out Richmondshire would need to score at a relatively modest 6 an over. They opened with Mike Layfield (15) and Gary Pratt (16) but both fell to the bowling of Brad Schmulian to make the score 38 for 2. A partnership of 35 between Dan Hodgson (37 not out) and Connor Blaxall-Hill (19) brought the score to 73 for three. Then a partnership of 37 between Hodgson and Bob Carr (19) made it 110 for four with only 16 needed in five overs.
That should have been straight forward but two wickets then fell quickly. Sam Wood had just hit a big six but when he attempted a repeat to score the winning runs he was stumped. This brought young Jake Percival to the crease with the scores level and he calmly hit his first ball for four. Victory by four wickets took Richmondshire to the final where they would meet Burnmoor who defeated Driffield by seven wickets.
Whether playing first and having a three hour break or playing second and keeping the momentum is debatable. Burnmoor certainly went into the final all guns firing while the Richmondshire bowlers struggled to regain the intensity of the first game.
Burnmoor scored 35 from the first five overs before Connor Blaxall-Hill’s bowling provided Dan Hodgson with a stumping. This did nothing to stop the run flow and a first wicket partnership of 91 took the score to 128 for two. Two more wickets fell to Jonny Carr (two for 24) with only five added. The push to add more runs in the final overs resulted in three more wickets falling but Burnmoor reached 159 for 7.
Needing to score at almost eight an over was going to require a strong batting performance. Mike Layfield and Gary Pratt opened brightly, taking eighteen from the first two overs. Having hit one big six Mike attempted another the next over only to be caught on the boundary. Dan Hodgson and Gary then batted patiently against tight bowling, keeping the score board turning over mainly with singles.
As the required rate started to climb it became clear boundaries were going to be needed and Dan fell attempting to move things along. This made the score 61 for two after nine overs. Having scored six Connor Blaxall-Hill was leg before attempting a reverse sweep. After hitting a six over square leg Bob Carr was caught attempting a ramp. Sam Wood lasted only four balls before he was clean bowled to make the score 90 for five.
Jake Percival struck a six and a four in scoring 14 from 12 balls and Gary Pratt (60) having anchored the innings opened up to attempt what was beginning to look the impossible. Matty Price was cleaned bowled and when Gary was caught three balls later it took only two more balls for the innings to end with Richmondshire 20 runs short.
Burnmoor go through to the t20 quarter finals while Richmondshire prepare for their National Club Cup 40 over competition semi-final on Sunday 20th August. A home tie against Cuckney of the Nottingham premier League.
Meanwhile back in Richmond the 3rds were recording their biggest win of the season against Middlesbrough 3rds, winning by 153 runs.
Put into bat captain John Clark made 93 from 75 balls, Alex Percival (29), Dan Baines (57) and Joe White (20) all scored valuable runs in a final total of 257 for 8. Jack Platt took three for 18 and Raam Raj four for nine as Middlesbrough were all out for 103.
25 points keeping them in third place and just 27 points behind leaders Norton with a game in hand.
