Tuesday 7 July 2009

Away vs Ugthorpe 4 July

Castleton travelled to Ugthorpe with the loss of key player and skipper Richard Thompson still ringing in their ears, yet had the return of their talismanic all-rounder Tom Hepburn to compensate the blow. Vice-captain Andrew Watson won the first battle of the day and decided to bat first on a soft and slow wicket, making batting a little tricky first up. Openers Hepburn and James O’Donnell strode out to the middle hoping to reignite their successful opening partnership from last season. They responded with a 50 opening partnership, until James gave his wicket away with a shot he will still be having nightmares about. Ben Sherwood joined Hepburn and the runs started to flow, Hepburn reaching his 50 soon after with a 6, and going on to make 70. Sherwood carried on to make 41, and with new keeper Lenny chipping in with some useful runs, Castleton mustered 156 all out from 34 overs.

Castleton knew they needed to remove the Sri Lankan opener sharpish if they were to have a fighting chance, yet a rabbit was pulled out of the hat by Hepburn, Dave Heldt snaring a good catch at mid-off. Castleton knew they were in the game and kept taking regular wickets, but runs were still flowing from the blade of the Ugthorpe batsmen. Andrew Watson bowled manfully in his second spell, Rob Thompson also pulling off a miracle catch, but it was Ben Sherwood who produced the performance of the game, taking 6-37 and securing a 10 run win, the last catch being taken by Matt Jackson to cue jubilant scenes among the Castleton fielders.

Castleton won by 10 runs

MoM - Ben Sherwood for a superb all-round performance. 41 runs and 6 wickets says it all.