Heslerton progress in Village Cup

posted by John Winn

Clubs entered in the 2018 Village Cup began  a journey on Sunday which for two of them will end at Lord's on September 16th. Close to home for me was a match between Alne, just across the River Ure, and Heslerton from near Malton and members of the Scarborough League. Although the day was cold the forecast was for it to stay dry and with Alne having played their first league game the day before I was reasonably confident of seeing some cricket.

I arrived to find the game well under way with the visitors batting and making good progress against some rather wayward spin bowling. Anchoring the innings was opener Stu Pickard who received good support from Sam Triffit, the first to go to his fifty but he was dismissed immediately afterwards. Determined not to spend all afternoon watching from the car I made a couple of circuits of the ground which looked a treat and when the sun came out sitting in the lee of the pavilion was a reasonably pleasant experience. Towards the end of the innings much interest centred on whether Pickard would reach his century. A six and a four in the last over brought the prize within his reach, the strike was lost then
regained and he faced the last ball needing three. A pull to deep midwicket was dropped but only two runs were made and the innings closed on 205 for 6 with Stu's 99 in red ink.

While the players enjoyed a splendid tea I contented myself with a cuppa, lapped the ground again but with the sun having gone elsewhere I settled for watching the second innings from the car sheltering from a stiffening chilly breeze. The wind was from the east and the noise of trains passing on the main line to and from York, just a mile away, could easily be heard. One of Heslerton's opening bowlers had an action that would have claimed Sid Buller's attention but post Muralitharan passes without comment. At 83 for 3 I sensed the ice might be mingling with the traditional Sunday G and T so made my way back 'over the water' enjoying commentary on Five Extra from Old Trafford. #NVC18 on Twitter led me to the result which showed Alne had fallen short at 162 all out, top scorer skipper Buteaux with 33 and Andy Slaughter with 4 for 16.

Heslerton will find themselves away from home again in the second round, due to be played on May 13th against Ebberston or Cayton.

                                                             
                                                                              Heslerton batting