CARIBBEAN TRIUMPH IN TOP OF THE TABLE CLASH
Caribbean retained their position at the top of the Leeds West Riding Cricket League Division Three yesterday with a win over closest rivals Cookridge. Bowling was the dominant discipline as Cookridge dismissed Caribbean in the first Innings for 108 with 12 overs to spare. The visitors replied, however, by bowling Cookridge out for 70 to move them onto 164 points, 18 points ahead of now second-place Netherton.
The course of the match was mapped
out from the first ball, in which Richard Varley bowled opening batsman Waqas
Shah. Saeed Shah followed shortly afterwards as Cookridge kept a tight field,
with Smith, Clarke and Kerfoot preventing fours to support the consistent
bowling of their openers.
Ahktar and Hussain steadied the ship for Caribbean,
developing a relatively enduring and productive partnership, adding 29 and 15
to the total respectively, but Lenny Randal became the biggest threat to
Cookridge, favouring the square cut and pull to amass 31 runs not out, of which
24 came in fours. Unfortunately for Randal, his team-mates were unable to hold
the fort at the other end, with the majority of the order looking decidedly
uncomfortable at the crease. The two Dins succumbed quickly, both losing their
wickets to catches, Mustafa’s third aired shot finally reaching a fielder. Late
change bowler Kerfoot despatched the tail end with a hatrick, thanks in part to
a superb diving catch from Haigh, following the lead of Varley, who had taken a
similar catch earlier off his own bowling.
The Cookridge team was in confident spirits going
out to bat, despite the absence of regular opener Shepherd. Having passed
Caribbean’s total of 188 in their last encounter for the loss of only four
wickets and with 14 overs excess, a target of 109 seemed easily reachable for
the side, especially with the late addition of Franklin Williams, whose score
of 78 played a key role in the previous victory. But Caribbean were quick out
of the blocks with the Din brothers forming a formidable opening partnership
with some effective fast bowling. Opener Smith was caught by an inswinging ball
from Mustafa Din, while Dawson played backwards to a yorker only to find his
stumps splayed behind him. With the score at 2-2 after 4 overs, Cookridge had
lost the momentum for the first time in the match.
Nevertheless, Clarke was coping well with the pace
of the young bowlers and a building partnership with Williams looked set to win
the match for Cookridge. An array of fours from the two gained the home side a
more respectable total and even the loss of Williams did not shake the resolve
of the team as Varley continued where his team-mate left off by turning the
ball down fine leg for four.
A change of bowling proved to be decisive for
Caribbean, however, when Merrell Francis and Mashood Ahktar replaced the
openers after 12 overs. The new combination of Ahktar’s pace and the slow
off-spin of Francis took a quick succession of wickets, carrying the score from
52 for 4 to 52 for 6 in a matter of minutes. Ahktar fooled Clarke with a slower
ball and Colledge was equally unable to cope with Francis’ slow spin, gifting a
catch to Randal in the slips. Francis and Ahktar removed the rest of
Cookridge’s batsmen between them with a surplus of 21 overs.
Caribbean must have felt at tea that they had not
scored enough runs to put them in a winning position, and this was due to some
excellent bowling from Cookridge. Kerfoot’s 3-18 off 7 overs speaks for itself
while Varley got his just rewards for consistently bowling a good length on the
off stump, taking 5 wickets for just 49 runs. Bates completed the trio with an
economic 2 for 36, despite a tendency to throw in no balls. However, it was a
case of under-performance with the bat as far as Cookridge was concerned as
Smith and Hanley failed to produce the goods despite consistently high scores
this season. Smith, batting mostly at number 4, has impressed with two 38s and
a 26 not out while Hanley provided the support for Williams against Caribbean,
contributing 48 runs to the total.
Nevertheless, Caribbean’s efforts
must not be underplayed. The bowling line-up, changed since the defeat in the
Cup at the hands of Cookridge, forced the home side onto the back foot with the
employment of fast bowling with which the batsmen were simply unacquainted and
therefore struggling to cope. Though he was left wanting on the wicket front,
Ibrar Din was important in keeping the run total down at the opposite end while
his brother took 3 for 16, including the vital dismissal of Williams. Ahktar
and Francis meanwhile came away with the outstanding figures of 4 for 13 and 3
for 14 respectively.
It remains to be seen whether
Cookridge will be able to improve their game before next week’s repeat fixture
at Scott Hall Oval, when the two teams will contest their second of three
encounters in the league.