Yorkshire Academy bounce back

Posted by Tony Hutton

The Yorkshire Academy, current champions of the Yorkshire Premier League, bounced back yesterday after three successive very narrow home defeats. They had lost by 2 runs, 14 runs and 1 wicket in close encounters with Driffield, Appleby Frodingham and Castleford.

This time at Weetwood they were entertaining league leaders Rotherham, who have a strong looking side with former Yorkshire hopefuls like Mark Cummins, James Moorhouse and Ben Sanderson in their ranks together with a prolific Australian batsman from Perth in Anthony Del Borello.

Yorkshire were without left arm spinner Karl Carver, away with the first team squad and had a new captain in Matthew Waite, who took over from Elliot Callis. The loss of this responsibility seemed to spur on Callis, who has been a bit short of runs recently.
Today he played a very responsible innings after the loss of three early wickets which had put the Academy in trouble. All three were taken by Leeds/Bradford University left arm opening bowler Archie Ogden who has had trials with both Leicester and Hampshire second elevens. He clean bowled Harry Brook, then had Hussain and Waite caught behind.

Callis started slowly but eventually top scored with a good innings of 68 which included eight fours and one six. He was well supported by Ben Ainsley (24) and Jordan Thompson (29) with some late hitting by Warner and Logan taking the total over the 200 mark. The Academy ended their 55 overs on 203-8.

Rotherham also started slowly after the early loss of Moorhouse, caught and bowled by Warner, but Cummins and wicket keeper Purshouse put on a valuable partnership of 90 to put Rotherham in the driving seat. Or so it seemed, as the half dozen or so hard core spectators plus various family members and friends and a continuing flow of footballers from a tournament going on all day, felt the Academy were facing defeat.

With the score on the dreaded 'Nelson', 111-1, captain Waite made the breakthrough when he clean bowled Purshouse for 44. His partner the obdurate left hander Cummins, left soon afterwards caught behind by Read off Warner for 46 and the game suddenly turned on its head. With the pleasant evening sunshine being tempered by the normal Weetwood wind wickets began to tumble with a vengence.

Warner bowled Ogden first ball and was on a hat-trick with the score now 116-4. The hat-trick was denied by the first ball of Warner's next over, but then left arm spinner Logan took centre stage. First of all Del Borello was bowled by Waite for only 9 and then Logan demolished the tail with four wickets in no time, only Schofield with 10 not out put up any resistance and soon Rotherham were all out for 153, having lost their last nine wickets for only 43 runs. The table toppers well and truely toppled!

Logan finished with 4-43 from 13.3 overs, but all the pacemen bowled with pace and enthusiasm. The Academy may only be mid-table at present, but they have the talent to improve and face two important semi-finals in the Black Sheep Trophy and the Yorkshire League cup in the near future, so still the chance of some silverware again.