Narrow defeat for Yorkshire over 50s

Posted by Tony Hutton

Yorkshire over 50s v Kent over 50s (Studley Royal) - Sunday 8th August 2010

Yorkshire and Kent had reached the last 16 of the over fifties county championship by both winning six of their seven games up to now. A close contest was anticipated and so it turned out at the very pleasant and spacious Studley Royal ground near Ripon.

A large marquee was already in place in anticipation of the Golden Oldies world cricket festival which starts in the Nidderdale League area on Monday. Kent got off to a good start putting on 50-0 in the first ten overs, before the introduction of slow left armer Mick Kenyon, from Dringhouses, brought the fall of two wickets, as well as slowing the scoring rate.

However 58-2 after sixteen overs became 130-2 after a good partnership for the third wicket. The introduction of Murphy Walwyn, Bradford League stalwart for many years but now playing with Lascelles Hall, brought about a turn in Yorkshire's fortunes.
Walwyn took four wickets in his spell and Kent were 162-7 in the 41st over.

The tailenders kept things going well in the last four overs, with some excellent running between wickets, and added a further 36 runs to see Kent to a total of 196-8 in 45 overs.

Yorkshire opened with Richard Sykes wicketkeeper from Acomb and Dave Furniss from Aston Hall, a century maker in an earlier match. Sadly they struggled against some accurate Kent bowling and only put on eleven runs in the first eight overs. Sykes was then out at 18-1 and Furniss at 33/2, but then came Yorkshire's best partnership of the innings between Colin Frank from Pickering and John Flintoff from Sessay.

They were one short of a hundred partnership, and seemed to be coasting to victory, when Flintoff was out at 132-3 after 35 overs. So Yorkshire required 65 off the last ten overs, with Frank well past his fifty still going strong. However when he was out soon after, wickets began to fall and the required run rate went up from six an over to eight an over.

Hopes were high that Murphy Walwyn, a renowned hitter, would turn things back Yorkshire's way, but he had given everything in his bowling stint and had injured a knee, which prevented him running short singles. After hitting one trademark boundary he was deceived by a slower ball and Yorkshire's hopes took a dive.

Accurate bowling and tight fielding by Kent restricted the run scoring and after needing 42 from five and 24 from three, another two wickets fell and they now needed 20 from the last two overs, which proved just too many. With seven wanted off the last ball a straight driven four was not enough and Yorkshire were out of the competition by the narrowest of margins - just two runs.

A splendid game on a lovely ground, but only a few spectators who were mainly families and friends of the players, probably due to the total lack of publicity for such events - both teams deserved more support. So Kent go through to the quarter finals and will be a hard team to beat.