Saturday 9th June ~ Howden Clough (Away)

Pencil Comes Good

Having travelled to Misson from the Doncaster section of the YACA the previous Saturday to spy on Fairburn I had my first trip to Howden Clough this weekend and I've got to say that the size of Howden's pylons puts Misson's in the shade even if the position of Misson's pylon will take some beating.

Electricity in the air at Howden Clough

On what turned out to be an extremely lively wicket the Clough batted first and it wasn't long before the wickets began to tumble. Early star with the ball was Smiler, downhill in to the wind from the pavilion end, who had quickly assembled another five wicket haul. Dave's smile was broader than ever by the end of his spell. Eventually, Steve Taylor too began to get in on the act and at one stage it looked like the innings would be completed with the score well under 50.

The Clough tail though showed just how best to play the wicket. With many a 'free swing' the last two wickets clobbered a further 50 runs to give a total that could well have proved troublesome. Smiler ended the innings with 5 for 32, Steve with figures of 4 for 45 and Huddy took an odd wicket in a five over spell.

With the absence of Reg with back trouble (he'd gone to Worcester to see a specialist!) it was up to Huddy to get the troops going after tea. Five aerial fours did quickly take the score on to twenty without loss, but then the wickets began to quickly fall and it was left to Pencil to come good. Mr Phillips had spent most of tea explaining how he had had a real 'session' the previous night which was perhaps him making the excuses before he went out to the middle, but whatever he'd been up to he perhaps ought to do the same every weekend, as for the first time this season we saw him make good.

Proceedings were delayed for a short time when one of the neighbourhood dogs arrived on the field of play and started to abuse the Clough fielders. This was followed by a bevy of local beauties, to whom the dog obviously belonged, also taking to the field in an attempt to pull the dog away. Several minutes of shouting, whistling and calling followed to no avail before a posse of Clough fielders eventually chased the wild beasts off! According to Hornby, who had been in the midst of all this, it was a whole pack of dogs!

By the time Pencil had reached his maiden half century for the season, he had been joined by Irry McCutcheon (Bob's nickname being a corruption of 'irresponsible') who proceeded to tease the Clough fielders by lobbing the ball just within their reach, causing them to splat themselves on the ground as they dropped him. Thankfully for the remaining Tongites no further wickets were to fall as we ran out uncomfortable winners by five wickets.

Footnote:
Unbeknown to us this victory allowed us to jump over Highbury into third place in the League.