North Enfield’s Sunday XI just came up short against FM Arthur’s in a thrilling encounter that went down to the penultimate over.
Home captain Freddie Pearson elected to bat on a sticky wicket and may have been slightly rueing this decision when David Brandon (1) holed out to mid-on early. However, the arrival of Ishan Tilakaratna at the crease sparked the game into life. After being dropped first ball, he made the visitors pay, launching a brutal assault on their bowling and racing to 50, striking the ball cleanly and hitting 24 off one over. The partnership with William Munt for the second wicket was 117 by the time Tilakaratna eventually fell, as a catch finally went to hand to end his entertaining innings of 83 from 51 balls (10 fours and 3 sixes), leaving the hosts in a strong position at 139 - 2 from 25 overs. Soon after Pearson arrived at the crease, Munt reached a much more tranquil 50 and both set about upping the ante, finding the boundary as they pushed North Enfield up towards 200. Munt was caught at deep mid-wicket in the 38th over, ending the partnership of 59 and his 117 ball stay at the crease (89), however - Pearson (26*) and Andy Corgan (11*) propelled the hosts to an imposing total of 219 - 3 from their 40 overs.
North Enfield got off to a great start with the ball, as Oliver Munt claimed two early wickets, bowling one Arthur’s opener, before club veteran Richard Sanders took an incredible diving catch in the gully region to spark jubilant scenes, just after Tilakaratna had been denied a stunning one-handed catch by a no-ball. The visitors were soon 70 - 3, as Sanders struck with the ball in hand, luring a batter into edging the ball into the gloves of Tilakaratna behind the stumps. However, at this point a 74-run partnership swung momentum the Arthur’s way and put them into the driving seat, until an impressive spell of partnership bowling from Thomas Munt and Pearson brought about a couple of quick wickets for the captain, swinging the game back into the balance. The game was there for the taking, but the other Arthur’s opener passed 50 to ensure that the visitors were always ahead of the required run rate and snuck home by five wickets.
Elsewhere, Saturday’s rain washed out the league fixtures for both North Enfield sides.
Add comment
Comments