Rain during the morning and a heavy shower in the early afternoon scuppered my plans for visiting a number of grounds adjacent to the A19 yesterday but when in mid afternoon the skies cleared and the sun appeared I drove down to Lightmire Lane where Ouseburn and Bishop Thornton had started a 22 over game. With Pannal crowned as champions two weeks ago and Ouseburn confirmed as runners up there was little to play for other than the satisfaction of finishing the season with a win and some good memories to sustain both players and spectators for the next seven months.
The wet morning had prevented the ground staff giving the outfield its usual Saturday haircut and fours were not easy to come by but with Sam Parker and Russ Robshaw taking the aerial route an Ouseburn side missing one or two regulars upped the scoring rate towards the end of the innings to finish on 161 for 7, a total thought likely to be too many for a Bishop Thornton XI also a little understrength. And so it proved for Ouseburn clearly wanted to finish as close to Pannal as possible and resisted the temptation to use anybody but the front line bowlers. These were backed up by some excellent catching, none better than a one handed effort that finished off the game and the season on what had become a warm September evening. This was much appreciated by a good size crowd, some of whom I had seen at Lord's on Wednesday and others who had enjoyed being part of a full house at Headingley on Friday.
Ready for next season
I mentioned earlier that the Division 1 title race had its course two weeks ago and the final table shows Ouseburn just one win behind Pannal. Newby Hall and Blubberhouses are relegated and will be replaced by Knaresborough Forest and West Tanfield. In Division 3 my other local team, Whixley have just done enough to stay up, a satisfactory conclusion both for them and the league committee that placed them in this division after their transfer from the Wetherby League. Icing on the cherrymen's cake is provided by the second team who have gained promotion from Division 9. Well done to them.
Of course there is still plenty of cricket to be played with some leagues having another round of matches and the championship not finishing until Friday week. After the presentation of the trophy to Andrew Gale yesterday, attention switches to the relegation situation which, largely thanks to Hampshire's rear guard action against Somerset, is still finely poised. Any two from four seems to be the case with Worcestershire short odds to be one of the four,
Durham, by the simple expedient of losing their last four matches continue to cause their supporters anxious moments and are probably glad that Sussex and Somerset meet at Hove tomorrow. If there is a winner from this game then Hampshire might be able to take advantage and climb above the losers when Yorkshire visit the Ageas Bowl, stung no doubt by their emphatic defeat at Lord's yesterday. A wrong to be righted methinks.
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