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In blazing heat, UYCC captain Jimmy Oldham won the toss and unsurprisingly elected to bat first on a very flat pitch. It is often the way in cricket matches that the early stages set the tone, and that was certainly the case in this game. When York’s talismanic opening batsman Fraser Crawford played at a ball that was slightly wide and was caught behind for just 7, they were always going to be in trouble. Fellow opener Alex McDonald departed soon after with the score standing at just 16, followed quickly by Joel Hughes and Roses centurion Andy Kirkwood.
With four wickets down for just over 50 runs, Oldham and Nick Townson set about trying to rebuild the UYCC innings, but the skipper was soon on his way back to the pavilion after being bowled by a full ball from Liverpool’s first change left arm spinner. Kash Memon came to the crease at number seven and made a fluent 32, with Townson adding a slightly more gritty 21 to the score. Lower order contributions from Ben Cooke and Will Felgate took the UYCC score to 147, but that was very much below par and was realistically never going to be enough to give the bowlers a decent chance.
In reality, York’s downfall was that they never managed to build meaningful partnerships and they lost wickets at regular intervals. After the break, opening bowlers Oldham and Hughes set about trying to make inroads, but they struggled to get the key wickets they needed. A change of ends for Hughes paid off and he finished with two wickets, as did Oldham, but the backup bowlers Felgate, McDonald and George Richards couldn’t support the openers, and Liverpool got to the required target with 15 overs to spare.
While the season may have ended in disappointment for the UYCC 1sts, they were unbeaten in the league and proved to be the catalyst in changing York’s fortunes in this year’s Roses with a great win against Lancaster. The team were also recognised at the recent York Sport Awards, jointly winning the coveted Team of the Year award. The club will hope that a good cohort of talented freshers will bolster their ranks next season as the first team aim to secure back to back promotions, and hopefully the club will go from strength to strength in general.
UYCC 1st team vs Liverpool John Moores - Crawford, McDonald, Hughes, Kirkwood (wk), Oldham (c), Townson, Memon, Cooke, Felgate, Richards, Alsop
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