Photos: Oliver Todd
22 acres was in pristine condition last week for York to compete in the Conference Cup quarter finals against York St John. UYCC 1sts had enjoyed a clean sweep this season after winning all five games, but were up against a side who had finished second in the league above them.
The home team’s stand-in skipper and recent Roses hero Andy ‘Kandy’ Kirkwood lost the toss and was thrown into bat by his YSJ counterpart. But it wasn’t all bad for Kirkwood; the new wicket and fast outfield promised a large total if a team batted positively.
The first over of the day was quite remarkable. YSJ paceman Alex Morrell’s first ball was a full toss and no ball that was swatted for a one bounce 4. Those that followed were a succession of no balls then 2 wides, one which went for 4 byes. In the process of this outlandish bowling, umpires Jim Brannigan and Bill Carter condemned Morrell for bowling a beamer; he was stripped of his bowling duties for this reckless and unsafe play having only bowled one ball. Morrell finished with quite possibly the worst figures in the history of cricket, having gone for 15 runs off just one regulation ball. The over ended up costing 29 runs.
The UYCC opening partnership between the aggressive Fraser Crawford and quick-between-the-wickets Alex McDonald stormed to a century partnership within 12 overs.
Crawford was the catalyst in the pairing; favouring the leg side he dispatched the bowling like you would on the playground. After being dropped on the boundary with a personal score of 51, Crawford never looked back and brought up his 100 with a huge 6 over mid-off. The partnership fell soon after when ‘Gimmers’ McDonald was run out for 28. Joel Hughes entered the fray and quickly started playing his shots. However the 2nd wicket pairing didn’t last long as opener Crawford’s sensational innings came to an end on 127, after a mistimed hook was caught at short mid on. It was a disappointing end to an innings that had lit up a cloudy day.
Joel Hughes completed his half-century, with a 4 that was stopped from going into the shrubbery by the party that had come to support him. He went on to hit a 6 and a 4 in his next two balls, before being run out while attempting a risky 2. Hughes totaled 63 and was replaced by Kash Memon, who was padded up to go in from the start. But the new batter fell victim to an appalling call from Townson and was run out having only faced 2 balls. Townson saw Tom Williams’ wicket for only 4, before he was caught himself going for a big hit on the onside, out for 46. Alex Kirkpatrick (14), Will Felgate (37*), and heavily bruised, former Bilborough student Andy Kirkwood (1*) made late cameos to the innings to leave them on the competitive score of 359.
YSJ’s reply got off to the worst possible start. Tight bowling from Felgate and Williams took out their opponent’s opening pair with only 2 runs on the board. The aptly named Waseem Akram rebuilt the YSJ innings for a time with some classy drives, but his batting stint was short-lived as he fell victim to a smart run-out from Tom Williams. The crucial wicket of Akram brought about the collapse of YSJ; wickets from Kirkpatrick, McDonald and Alsop made them all out for 159 and wrapped up the 200-run victory with 13 overs to spare. Spin bowler Joel Hughes was the pick of the bowlers, boasting figures of 4-23.
York’s captain for the day, Andy Kirkwood, felt that his side’s display was “back page material”, and when asked to comment on their chances in the cup, said “as long as we put out a good team we’ve got every chance of winning”.
Man of the Match Fraser Crawford rather coolly stated that his fourth ton of the season “wasn’t his best,” and he expects the semi-final opponents Bradford 1sts to pose a bigger threat to his side. With Crawford firing on all cylinders and many people fancying UYCC to pick up the coveted Best Team on Campus at the annual York Sport Awards, you wouldn’t put it past them to add the Conference Cup to their trophy cabinet.