Hollywood Script

As far as sensational finishes go, Saturday's game is pretty much unbeatable. A once in a lifetime event perhaps.

The tale will be told for years to come - doubtless embellished and exaggerated, but truth be told it needs neither as it was amazing in its own right!

The tale will tell of a team in dire straits, a long way short of their target, one partnership remaining and very few deliveries left to face.

It will tell of two batsmen attacking with purpose, possibly with little pressure as success was so unlikely, but with a fighting spirit and a never say die attitude.

It will tell of the steady climb to the target score for victory, of the doubts growing in the opposition ranks, and the belief spreading through our troops.

It will say that come the final over, thirteen runs were still required.

And in the gathering gloom as the evening grew late, it will tell of two heroes who gave their all and ran to exhaustion for the first five balls to set up one last chance.

One ball, one hit for glory.

One bowler - one batsman.

One would be carried from the field aloft, the other would fall to his knees in anguish. Nobody else mattered now.

The ball was bowled and... SIX!!! Danny Kernan! What a strike, not his first, not his last, but the sweetest of them all. Even before it landed, the entire team were racing across the pitch to lift him high, and deservedly so - live long on this Danny - it was special!

Which is something that can't be said of the rest of the performance... No, I'm not going to say what a magnificent win it was, because it wasn't. The manner of the victory was incredible, But the general performance was poor. I'm not letting it paper over the cracks. We shouldn't have needed to score so many in the first place, but the bowling was poor and the fielding often pathetic.

After the previous two wins I'd thought a corner had been turned, everyone seemed to be enjoying playing and were putting in 100% effort. Fielding was sharp. Players were eager. Not Saturday - so many runs conceded to fielding mistakes, dropped catches, lethargy, and petty falling out on the field. At the tea interval half the team didn't seem to be speaking to each other. The batting, whilst steady, didn't gel as it has in the last fortnight either. Akeel (33) looked good, and Mick Cryer(36) played a key anchor role as he always does, but wasn't able to accelerate when the time came which put pressure on the later batsmen. Fortunately Jamie Fullwood (top scorer with 43), who's become something of the unsung hero of the piece due to Danny's last ball special, gave the chase the impetus needed, and Danny slotted in alongside him at the end with an equally brisk 34.

So yes, the scorebook will show that Embsay scored 203-4 off their 45 overs, and we got 204-9 off our 45 overs. But it won't show that we were well off the pace for probably 80% of the game, nor anything of that spectacular finale. But don't worry, if you want a recap, just ask Danny - I'm sure he'll tell you all about it.

The bad news was that Sandy Lane somehow managed to beat Skipton CI, so we're still bottom of the table. We're a point behind Thornton in Craven - and we vist them next Saturday! A vital match then - win and we're definitely off bottom spot. Lose and we're well adrift once more.

Let's have more of the heroics and less of the histrionics please!