Sunday saw the return of New Farnley to Beverley with a depleted team of 10 players whereas Beverley had a full side most of whom played last week on the back of an unexpected win over Vernun Carus.
New Farnley won the toss and their captain Cecilia Allen chose to field first. Beverley started quite quickly with Sarah McDowell and Beth Smith pushing quick singles with a mixture of 2s and 3s until Sarah was caught pushing forward for 13 with the score on 38 by Steph Robinson.
Helen Craig steadied the ship for a while until Beth was caught napping at her crease and was out LBW for 20. Amy Halloran joined Helen but the scoring slowed to just the odd 1 or 2 per over, a brilliant catch by Cecilia Allen off her own bowling saw the departure of Helen for 21. Laura Wilson came to the crease and set her stall out hitting the ball around the ground and making sure she had the lion’s share of the bowling.
Amy was eventually caught hitting out to long off from the bowling of Charlotte Frampton. Laura was steadily running out of overs but still made a respectable 48 at the close of the innings. The pick of the bowling was the captain Cecilia Allen with 2 wickets for 25 good contributions from Susanne White and Charlotte.
Cecilia Allen and Jane Ellis opened for New Farnley and soon put on 15 when Jane was brilliantly caught by Nicola Knapton at mid-on. Susanne White took over from Jane but a few overs later she was back in the pavilion with the score on 22.
Steph Robinson came to the crease and with Cecilia put on an impressive partnership of 63 which included several 3s a couple of 4s and a huge 6 into the tennis court fence. By this time New Farnley were well within the run-rate until Beth Smith bowled Cecilia for 44 and then Steph followed a few overs later for 17, after that it was pretty much downhill for the Beverley bowlers, Abi Warner took 2 wickets as did Nicola Knapton and Abi Moriarty.
Beth Smith took the top honours with 3 wickets; Amy Halloran and Ailish Ward bowled well but were unlucky to have not taken wickets. The fielders again put on a good show, great catches especially from Laura Wilson taking a low ball to her left and holding on to it. The team worked well together assisting with throwing and gathering the ball.
Courtney Nichol came on as 12th man for Ailish Ward and was her usual energetic self, running the ball down and accurate throwing to assisted fielders. With the run-rate set by New Farnley and their lack of players it was quite fortuitous that Beth Smith took the wicket of Cecilia Allen or Beverley would have been in trouble.
All in all a good match played in the spirit of the game, the weather played its part too, both teams having to take the odd break because of rain.
