UYCC made it six wins out of six with victories for all three teams on Wednesday. In the first home matches of the season, the first, second and third XI all beat rivals Newcastle, Huddersfield and Sheffield respectively.
The first eleven batted first after winning the toss. They got off to a great start as Lack and Rabet notched their first 50s of the season and from then on they never looked back. Good contributions from Tim Weston and Callum Lennox brought UYCC to 237-6.
Newcastle never really looked in danger of reaching their target and, after some fine bowling by Matt Cox at the start of their innings, bowled seven overs for just two runs. With the pressure building, and Newcastle needing to make quick runs off a tricky wicket, Thomas Waghorn capitalised with five wickets, including one spectacular return catch.
The second eleven also batted first on an equally difficult wicket, but did extremely well to make 165 in very tricky circumstances. After a fantastic quick-fire 50 from Sam Illingworth that came off just 52 balls, he eventually went on to make 67. A strong start was imperative in their innings and opening bowler, Henry Turner, picked up the top three wicket in no time at all. After a lengthy middle-order, Ryan Slater finally broke the partnership and the rest of the match was clearly under UYCC’s control, with Phil Clayton picking up three wickets in the process.
The third eleven won the toss and Charles El-Nemer did not hesitate to put Sheffield into bat on a wicket that was only just ready in time for the match. Some rather erratic fielding saw some excellent catches taken and some more routine ones dropped.
Nonetheless York did not crumble Matija Pisk caught three behind the stumps to assist David Gopinath, whose inspired spell took four key wickets, ending their innings on 122. And, despite a late flurry of wickets in UYCC’s response, a strong start by Sage Kugathasan and an assured finish by captain Charles El-Nemer gave York a highly tense victory by the small margin of just two wickets.
All in all, it has been an absolutely fantastic start to the season for UYCC, and as the season progresses they will surely hope to carry their good early season form into a serious push for promotion on three different fronts.
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