Game 10 - Colton (Home)

Date - 24th June 2006

On Presidents Day at Ilkley Cricket Club, the first team welcomed Colton to Denton Road and the spectators were in for a treat.

Guppy won the toss for the second week running, equalling his personal best from season 2004! Long may that run continue. In this week came the experience and craftiness of Santy Dad for young Richard Rhodes.

Guppy chose to insert the oppo and Rhodesy and Dickie both bowled very well in the opening 7 overs. So much so that the opener threw his wicket away in the 7th over scoring nowt!

Number 3 didn't look up to much either and he was soon back in the pavilion with the score 60-2

Number 4 Paul Sutheland entered the fray and decided his game plan was to bat a lot of overs. Indeed, he was still on 4 runs after 11 overs. At the other end the left-handed opener was looking the part before a mix-up between the two batters and was unfortunate to be run out for 41 by Santy Lad.

After this wickets fell at regular intervals, Cocky back amongst the wickets snaring two victims and Dickie at the other end reaping havoc.
With 12 overs left Ilkley had deservedly got themselves into a great position reducing Colton to 133-9. Sutherland had different ideas however and promptly smashed his way from 39 to 93 before The Hustler got his first ICC wicket and bowled him with 2 overs left. The score now being 206.
Dickie and Cocky the pick of the bowlers with figures of:
Harrison 24-6-84-5
Cocky 6-1-29-2.

A magnificent spread was put on by the Harrison Family, the chocolate muffin particularly delicious!

At the interval, Captain Quaife was keen to impress on his troops that Ilkley were still in the box seat and that it was Colton who had all on to get anything from the game.
Santy Dad and Bails were Ilkley's third new opening partnership of the season and they got the ICC off to a solid start before Bails was unlucky to be caught behind down the legside.
Cocky walked out and he and Santy Dad seemed to quickly stike an understanding of each other and the scoreboard ticked along at a steady rate. However, with the score on 75 Cocky was triggered for an lbw that would have done well to hit another set of stumps! Santy Lad joined Santy Dad at the crease and soon got off the mark with an imperious flick through midwicket for 4. Santy Dad was close to his 50 but young Santy would not be with him as he lobbed one up straight to cover.

Paul Dover joined Senior Sant around drinks and with only 80 runs required from the last 25 overs Ilkley held all the aces. However, a change of bowling by the Colton skipper really slowed things down and both batsmen atarted to find runs were harder to come by. The young off-breaker bowling very well and Santy Dad was bowled by one that turned for a well-crafted 64 with the score 125-4. Out walked Wheels as number 6 and he started to get the score moving along, helping Paul pinch singles with some quick running between the wickets. The Hustler by now had started to get his eye in and was finding the boundary and runs easier to come by before yet again the young spinner bowled a jaffa to remove The Hustler for 25.
Captain Quaife joined Wheels with 12 overs left and 50 runs needed. The ICC ground is big though and both batsmen took advantage with some excellent running between the stumps.

Guppy Lad didn't last as long as he would have liked getting bowled again by the young spinner.

By this stage panic had set in the Ilkley dressing room and the remaining batsmen didn't last long. Wheels and Lager tried to make a game of it at the end when 5 runs from 5 balls were needed but when Wheels was caught for 43 and Dawse and Lager were run out Ilkley demonstrated in a nutshell how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

The mood was sombre in the dressing room and heads down, the lads recognising a real opportunity missed by the ICC.

Up next Bolton Villas and Ilkley must take something from this game if they are to harbour any realistic ambitions of promotion.

Many thanks again to Mr Bailey for the photos!