COLLINSON HEROICS NOT ENOUGH AS LILLEY BEATEN

Lilley were robbed of a great win despite late order heroics from Stew Collinson in a closely fought battle at beautiful Bamville.

Lilley won the toss and made use of the new ball by bowling first.  The decision looked inspired as James Ashby picked up two wickets with consecutive
balls in the first over of the day, both clean bowled.  Tim Perry soon joined the action with another impressive opening spell and bagged a wicket himself, caught by the returning Joel Mellor at short-ish square leg to leave the home side 34-3.

Gareth Tompkins replaced Ashby and too was soon demolishing the stumps, two clean bowled victims in Smith and Clarke, both times the stump being smashed out of the ground.

Ken Hammond soon joined the party and he too wrenched out wickets – four of them in quick succession, including opener J. Smith and two caught behind by keeper Taz Qureshi.  Steve Eyres endured a difficult return to action with three rusty overs yielding 17 runs for the home side, but a smart run out via a Brad Tompkins direct hit wound the innings up for 112, a very get-able target on a fair-ish track.

Lilley’s reply got off to a rocky start, with Brad Tompkins (1) and Tim Perry (0), perishing early to an lbw decision and a clean bowled respectively.  Ken Hammond (22) and James Ashby revived the cause, but Hammond’s controversial lbw dismissal, given by the home umpire, meant trouble.  Ashby and Qureshi then went on to form a promising partnership and at 68-3, Lilley were cruising.  Ashby was
looking well set at 28 when new bowler Marshall got one to ricochet off both front and back pads and onto the stumps.

Phil Horner was the victim of timing one too well, belting the ball towards the boundary whilst on 5 only to see a good catch snaffled near the rope.  Five down became six down soon after when Qureshi, promoted to five in the order, was caught for 13 attempting an aggressive stroke.  Steve Eyres, although very scratchy, appeared to have struck up a good partnership with Gareth Tompkins as the latter smashed some great shots whilst Eyres kept one end tight.  Tompkins was cut short in his prime as he was brilliantly caught at mid off and Eyres became Marshall’s fourth victim, mis-judging one and being trapped leg before.

Stew Collinson has come on leaps and bounds in recent times with the bat and looked every bit the part as he stroked the ball around, cracking a couple of fours in Lilley’s quest for victory.  His straight drive for four was unquestionbly shot of the match.  Mellor at the other end had appeared a useful foil for the dashing Yorkshireman until tragically, whilst playing back, he allowed a ball to spin back towards his stumps ‘thinking it was missing’.  To his and Lilley’s horror, the ball struck the stumps and dislodged a bail, leaving Collinson and Paddington to steer Lilley to victory.

Collinson’s effort almost dragged Lilley home, but he was left stranded on 13 not out as Paddington was not up to the task and was bowled by Peck to give Bamville an improbable win with 9 overs still remaining.

A tough call on the team as Lilley were worth the win, but a lack of batting told when it mattered.