Report by Albert Pattison

Hull Zingari became Intermediate Champions of the York Senior League for 2008 when they had a convincing victory over Thirsk who were beaten finalists for the second successive year. The weather prevented the league reaching its conclusion at the end of last summer with the semi-final play-offs and final having to be carried over to this season.

Semi-Finals

In the semi finals, Hull Zingari beat Ouseburn by 7 wickets following their earlier tied game whilst Thirsk defeated York by 8 wickets. Open aged players provided good contributions for both Ouseburn, whose James Townsend made 41 and Hull Zingari who benefitted from the experience of Jon Hyde 3-38 and Martin Russell 3-20. The best teenagers on show were Peter Townsend who made 43 for Ouseburn and two Hull 16 year olds who each made half centuries , Jack Storey who retired with 52 and Henry Frankish who moved to 53no when he made the match-winning shot. Thirsk’s star was 17 years old Stuart Christon whose blistering opening spell send York slumping to 14-5 and earned hime eventual figures of 5-18. Liam McKendry made 38 in an opening stand of 66 whilst his partner, in an all junior eleven, Danny Whitelaw went on to make 40no as he and Ryan McKendry 34no clinched an 8 wicket win.

Ouseburn              163-9     (J Townsend 41, P Townsend 43, J Hyde 3-38, M Russell 3-20) lost to
Hull Zingari    167-3     (J Storey 52 ret, H Frankish 53no, O Rose 2-38)  by 7 wickets

York                       121         (T Cleminson 32, S Christon 5-18, T Stead 2-10) lost to
Thirsk                 123-2     (L McKendry 38, D Whitelaw 40no, R Mckendry 34no) by 8 wickets

Thirsk fielded a full junior eleven when they travelled to Hull Zingari to play the final and made a promising start as they reduced the home side to 58-5. Once again pace-man Stuart Christon was the star performer with the ball, claiming three wickets in an over as he made serious inroads into the top order. Jack Storey, a senior league centurion of the previous day, was once again in fine form and reached his half century and the mandatory retirement. The Hull innings was revived somewhat by the open age pairing of Jon Hyde and Martin Russell before Christon returned to grab two further wickets as he produced the best bowling performance in the five year history of the competition with 6 for 27 in his permitted 8 overs. Storey’s return to the crease was brief as he fell to Ben England for 54 in a total of 169 all out.

Thirsk were given a sound start by Liam McKendry, who had also made a three figure total the previous day in the Premier Division, and Dan Whitelaw. The pair had moved to 43 when McKendry was caught in the gully for 37 by Martin Russell who quickly pouched another catch to remove Ryan McKendry. Whitelaw 33 and Ben England 27 kept Thirsk in the hunt but the introduction into the attack of open age bowler Martin Russell brought about a dramatic change of fortune. He claimed 5 for 23 in 31 deliveries as Thirsk slumped from 98-3 to 110 all out leaving the hosts as comfortable victories.

With open age players not considered, the Man of the Match Award went to Jack Storey who made the most significant contribution with the bat which saw him edge out the challenge from Stuart Christon.

HULL ZINGARI
M. Gravill                               b Christon              19
M Scarr               c R.McKendry       b Stead                 23
J Storey              c L.McKendry       b England               54
H Frankish                               b Christon               5
J Micklethwaite                          b Christon               0
D Scarr                                  b Christon               0
J Hyde          (OA)                     lbw R McKendry          15
A Brown                                  b R McKendry             8
M Russell       (OA)                     not out                 15
J Headspith           c L McKendry       b Christon               1
J Bowers                                 lbw Christon             0


                                              Extras             29
                                              Total             169 all out


FOW:      1-30   2-48   3-54   4-58    5-58   6-99   7-127   8-162   9-162   10-169


Bowling         O     M     R     W
S Christon      8     2     27    6
T Stead         8     1     49    1
R McKendry      8     1     24    2
B England       4.5   0     23    1
J B Petty       3     0     16    0
K Young         2     0      9    0

THIRSK
L J McKendry          c Russell          b Micklethwaite         27
D J Whitelaw                             b Gravill               33
R McKendry            c Russell          b Scarr                  5
B K England           c Micklethwaite    b Russell               27
S Christon                               b Russell                3
K S Young                                run out                  0
C Whitelaw                               c & b Russell            0
J G Wilkinson         c Frankish         b Russell                0
T M H Stead           c Brown            b Russell                8
K Fenwick                                b Gravill                0
J B Petty                 not out                                 0

                                              Extras             12
                                              Total             110 all out

FOW:      1-43   2-58   3-83   4-98   5-98   6-99   7-99   8-102   9-110   10-110

Bowling         O     M     R     W
A Brown         4     1     27    0
M Scarr         7     1     19    1
J Micklethwaite 6     2     25    1
M Gravill       7     3     13    2
M Russell       5.1   1     23    5

Umpires:                Messrs I Broumpton & P Fowler

Man of the Match:       Jack Storey (Hull Zingari)

Hull Zingari won by 59 runs