Seconds suffer disappointment at Northants
Wed 18 May 2016
REPORT | By Pete Johnson
Leicestershire 2nd XI took on Northamptonshire 2nd XI in the SET20 competition at Bedford School. After having been at Oakham School a couple of weeks ago, we now found ourselves at another esteemed seat of learning, Bedford School.
As I cast my eye around the delightful surroundings, I noticed that as with Oakham School there was one thing that the scholars were missing, that icon of adolescence, The Bike Shed. My education embraced the ‘school of hard knocks’, and the ‘University of Life’. Consequently, my journey along life’s highway, began with experience of many things both within the confines of, and behind the Bike Shed!
The morning weather in Bedford was not good, and persistent rain prevented any play in Game 1. Lunch was taken at 1.00pm, and after a post lunch Inspection the Umpires stated that play would commence in Game 2 at 3.00pm, provided there was no further rain. There was no further rain, and we got underway at 3.00pm.
Tom Wells called incorrectly, and Northamptonshire skipper Rob Newton elected to bat. Northants got off to the worst possible start as the first over of the innings bowled by James Sykes yielded two wickets.
Opener Newton (0) was caught at mid-off by Tom Wells off the third ball of the over, and then with the last ball of the over Thomas (0) was snaffled at first slip by Paul Horton. Will Thomas is the son of Greg Thomas (the ex Glamorgan and England pace bowler), and Greg was actually sitting on the pavilion balcony watching the game.
Crook (4) was caught at cover by Lewis Hill off Rob Taylor in the fourth over of the innings, leaving Northamptonshire on 18-3. Then followed a blistering partnership between opener Lloyd Paternott and overseas prodigy, Sri Lankan, Seekuge Prasanna. The pair added a lightning 107 for the fourth wicket from 10.1 overs.
Prasanna raced to his 50 (1x4/6x6) from 25 balls. He was particularly brutal towards Rob Sayer, despatching the first 5 balls of the 12th over (Sayer’s 2nd) for maximums, all hit straight down the ground.
We braced ourselves to watch him achieve the Holy Grail by taking 36 from the over, but the sixth ball went for just a single, a leading edge that dropped just short of the fielder running round from cover.
Prasanna (71) finally departed caught on the long-off boundary by Umar Akmal off Taylor. Soon afterwards Paternott went to his 50 (7x4) from 38 balls, quite pedestrian compared to Prasanna.
Zaib (4) went bowled by Neil Dexter, and Branston (7) was caught by Hill, again at cover off Wells. I will refrain from saying that Branston got himself into a bit of a pickle. The durable Paternott (76) was out from the last ball of the innings, caught and bowled by Wells off a skier.
Northamptonshire’s innings closed on 168-7 from their 20 overs, with Paternott and Prasanna totalling 147 of those runs between them, 87.5% of the final score.
Leicestershire never really threatened the Northamptonshire total as after 6.4 overs they were 33-6. Angus Robson and Kevin O’Brien opened the innings. O’Brien looked threatening as he hit the first two balls of Miles Richardson’s first over (the second of the innings for boundaries), and then took a maximum from the fifth ball. Unfortunately O’Brien ran himself out from the last ball of the over, Robson quite rightly refusing a single that would have challenged Usain Bolt.
Wickets then tumbled at an alarming rate. Akmal (0), caught behind square first ball, off Ashraf. Robson (3) perished trying to force the pace off Richardson. Horton (3) was caught at the wicket by ex Leicestershire Academy prospect Joe Kendall, again off Richardson, Wells (6) was bowled by Richardson, and Dexter (4) was caught by Newton off Prasanna.
Lewis Hill played an eye-catching knock making 40 from 30 balls, including a monumental maximum over mid-wicket, the biggest hit of the day. Eckersley (6) went caught by Prasanna off lively seamer Crook, Hill (40) caught in the deep by Thomas off Matthew Taylor, and Sayer (6) again caught in the deep by Thomas off Taylor.
Taylor (16*) and Sykes (17) added a lively 26 for the last wicket before Sykes was bowled by Ashraf and County were all out for 118, losing by 50 runs.
The room where luncheon is taken in the pavilion at Bedford School is called the Alastair Cook Room. Alastair Cook MBE, being an old boy of the school, an Old Bedfordian as they are called.
During the delay for rain, I had the opportunity to browse through some brochures on Bedford School. Amongst other Old Bedfordians are from the sporting world: Alex Wakely (Northants CCC), Harold Abrahams, of Chariots of Fire Fame, and from Rugby Union, Budge Rogers OBE, Andy Gomersall MBE, and Martin Bayfield.
From the world of entertainment would you believe an Old Bedfordian is none other than Al Murray (The Pub Landlord), where on earth did he get his early material from if there were no Bike Sheds...
