A night of 16/16

Posted by John Winn

Rather belatedly yesterday evening I consulted my Ouseburn CC fixture card and found they had a Whixley and District Evening League match in Harrogate against Ashville College, a ground which I had not previously visited. When I arrived Ashville were making slow progress but thanks mainly to a hard hitting fifty from C Lowson,they were able to finish on 144 for 3 off their sixteen eight ball overs.
The facilities at Ashville are most impressive, with two pitches and a players balcony on the pavilion overlooking the larger of the two. With the sun shining it made a most attractive picture even though it had failed to pull in many spectators. Is 16/16 losing its charms too?
Ouseburn got off to a flier and helped by four overthrows made rapid progress towards their target. Openers Pete Townsend and Jamie Bryant were not separated until they had put on 119 which just left time ffor Olly Uffindall to come in at three and demonstrate his reverse sweep and then finish the match with a six and with four overs to spare.
One of the Ashville players was a Frenchman who would have batted at eleven. He demonstrated great enthusiam in the field which was much appreciated by his team mates. The highlight of the evening, at least for those who enjoy seeing others suffer pain, came when he stopped a crashing drive and certain four with his foot. When he looked at the bruise on his foot this morning he may well have thought 'C'est magnifique mais ce n'est pas le cricket!