India freeze at Scarborough

posted by John Winn

Chilly autumn mornings can be forgiven when they develop into warm sunny days that leave us hoping the cricket season will last for ever but when they turn out like yesterday at Scarborough we might as well put the clocks back and start the Christmas shopping. When those awaiting their turn to bat are wrapped in blankets and in one case cuddling a hot water bottle things have got silly. The Indian women's team came to North Marine Road with a test match win over England ten days ago on their honours board but found yesterday's conditions utterly alien and must be praying that when they have to repeat the exercise tomorrow the temperature will be several degrees higher. The recent craze for dousing people in buckets of icy water might have been useful preparation.

The 9:40 train from York on which at festival time it is often standing room only, was busy but seats were available and the company was more buckets and spades than bat and ball. I arrived at the ground and paid the fiver for admittance. I qualified on two grounds for this reduced rate but this I was informed did not mean free admission. Yorkshire membership was one criterion, I leave you to guess the other. By the time I took my seat alongside two Grahams from Huddersfield, India had lost a wicket and Shrubsole soon added another to her collection but Mandhana and skipper Raj came to the rescue and despite a couple of run outs some hitting by the tail saw the innings close on 193 for 8.

The wind that kept the two nations' flags horizontal came straight out of Columbus Ravine and brought with it some showers that stopped play at one point, shortening the innings by three overs. During the break in play I took the opportunity to visit England sponsor's Waitrose's tent where a rather nice pork pie was available to sample. It was here later in the day that I saw Jennifer Ellison taking advantage of the same offer and along with the two Grahams she was the only other person I recognised in a crowd that perhaps touched 400. One facet of the supermarket's sponsorship is that they have donated £100 for each boundary struck in the matches involving England's men and women this summer. Waitrose shareholders should be grateful to the efforts of India's men in recent weeks.

England began their reply at a rapid pace and Edwards and Knight had 44 on the board mainly in boundaries off five overs before rain again sent the players back to the warmth of dressing rooms. The Indian women must have been particularly relieved at this for fielding in such cold damp conditions had exposed some deficiencies in this aspect of their game. When play resumed Duckworth Lewis joined in and by the time I left to catch an earlier train than intended, England were well on the way. Eventually rain washed out the day with England winning by seven wickets under D/L regs. Not sure anybody would have felt short changed unlike this blogger who having shelled out a quid for a scorecard found it lacked the names of the two teams, the umpires and scorers.. Mustn't grumble though for as you can see it clearly states the month and year.

Following Tuesday's posting I had an email from David Thorpe gently reminding me that Yorkshire Under 15 girls had reached the same stage in their ecb competition as the boys. This can now be upgraded for in yesterday's semi finals, while the boys were receiving a drubbing from Surrey, the girls administered similar treatment to Warwickshire and will play Gloucestershire in today's final at Lullington Park CC near Swadlincote in south Derbyshire with a 10:45 start. The boy's final will be between Surrey and Middlesex at Kibworth in Leicestershire.

 One other update from Tuesday's posting: the Minor Counties Championship final will be at South Wiltshire CC in Salisbury from 7th to 10th September.

Finally most readers will now be aware that Yorkshire topped their group in the 50 over competition and now have a quarter final against Durham on Thursday next at Headingley at 10:30. This may require some skilful fence sitting for those of us with dual nationality and whilst I have in the past said that blood is thicker than water there were times at Scarborough yesterday when I was not sure if this was true.