Earby Cricket Club v Settle Cricket Club (Ribblesdale Cricket League)
Earby Cricket Club had a selection issue over the weekend for the visit of Settle Cricket Club in the Ribblesdale Cricket League fixture at the Applegarth. The Lancashire club handed a debut to the new professional Zak Qwabe, which left the decision to go youth or experience with former England International Arran Brindle or Harry Brindle (son), but youth development won the day as the young teenager kept his place in the starting eleven.
Craig Walton was handed the captaincy for the home side and he won the toss and elected to field, which looked like a good choice after the opening few overs. The visitors sent in opening batsmen Archie Phillipson and John Davidson to open the inning, whilst Earby gave the ball to their new professional Zak Qwabe who took his first wicket in the opening over of his Ribblesdale Cricket League career.
Archie Phillipson, will be listed in the record books as the first wicket that South African Zak Qwabe took on English soil in the Ribblesdale Cricket League, after he was given out by John Whalley caught behind by Jandre Viljoen. However the young batsman was not impressed by the umpires decision standing his ground in the crease for a few seconds before eventually walking slowly off the field back to the pavilion.
Ashen Silva then joined John Davidson in the middle but just four balls into the second over the home side struck again. This time taking the wicket of John Davidson for a duck leaving the visitors in trouble after two overs with both openers out and the score at 0-2.
Despite being two wickets down and no runs on the scoreboard the match really started to change the moment James Snowden arrived alongside Ashen Silva at the crease. The duo went back to basics by protecting their wickets and then hitting the bad balls away for runs which saw them create a partnership together for around one hundred and fifty deliveries.
James Snowden was next to be dismissed when he was trapped LBW off the bowling of Zak Qwabe for twenty-one runs from seventy-eight balls leaving the visitors 64-3.
Will Davidson (Captain) was next into the bat for the visitors and alongside Ashen Silva the pair added a further thirty runs to the scoreboard before Davidson was caught behind by Jandre Viljoen off the bowling of Zak Qwabe for twenty runs off twelve balls which included three (4’s).
Robbie Davidson then joined Ashen Silva in the middle and the duo added a further twenty-seven runs to the total, before the club professional Ashen Silva was dismissed caught by Luke Hipgrave off the bowling of Zak Qwabe for sixty-two runs from ninety-one balls, which included four (4’s) and two (6) and left the visitors 121-5.
Dante Niles (Young Overseas Player) then arrived at the crease to join Robbie Davidson he added a further seventeen runs to the total before being caught by Joseph Robinson off the bowling of Chris Walton to make the score 158-6.
Robbie Davidson and Eddy Read then batted out the rest of the overs with Robbie Davidson scoring forty-nine runs from forty-five balls whilst Eddy Read scored five runs from nine balls with both players leaving the field not out and leaving Settle Cricket Club with a final total of 182-6 off their forty-five overs.
As with all clubs in the Ribblesdale cricket League the people behind the scenes fully deserve a mention each and every week. Once again unsung volunteers the ground staff came onto the wicket during the interval to ensure the match had a pitch in the second innings just as good as the first innings. Using the roller on the wicket before sweeping & remarking the creases to ensure the pitch was 100%.
Earby Cricket Club came into start their innings knowing they needed to make a total of 183 runs from forty-five overs to ensure victory over their Yorkshire rivals. Jandre Viljoen and Evan Dobson opened the batting for the home side, which proved to be a very long over for Eddy Read having bowled four wides and a no ball meant the first over was actually eleven balls long.
It wasn’t long before the home side lost their first wicket that off Jandre Viljoen who was clean bowled by Harry Snowden for five runs off seven balls which included one (4). In his next over, coming down the hill at the other end, Eddy Read was back to Mr Consistant trapping Evan Dobson LBW again for five runs with the visitors now on 28-2.
Read, followed up the first wicket the very next over taking the wicket of Sam Parry clean bowling the batsmen for just eight runs. Ashen Silva then joined in the wicket taking having Adam Hodge caught by Dante Niles for sixteen runs leaving the home side in trouble at 38-4.
Chris Walton was the next batsmen to be dismissed caught & bowled by Ashen Silva for just one run. This brough the new club professional Zak Qwabe to the crease with everyone looking to see how he would perform with the bat, unfortunately for Qwabe the nerves got the better of him and after he survived a caught in the slips appeal off the bowling of Dante Niles he was dismissed the very next over clean bowled for a duck by Ashen Silva.
Craig Walton (Captain) was next to be dismissed by the visitors, when he missed judged and played around a Dante Niles delivery which left him well outside his crease and stumped by Robbie Davidson leaving the home side 67-7.
The final three batsman added just twelve runs to the scoreboard with Nathan Hodges run out by skipper Will Davidson for eleven runs, Luke Hipgrove trapped LBW for a duck by Ashen Silva and Joseph Robinson caught by Dante Niles off the bowling of Ashen Silva for just one run. This left the visitors all out for eighty-six runs from thirty overs.
Settle Cricket Club used just four bowlers in the innings Eddy Read who had figures of 5 overs, 2 wickets for 23 runs, Harry Snowden with 6 overs, 2 maidens, 1 wicket for 17 runs, Dante Niles 9 overs, 3 maidens, 2 wickets for 19 runs and Ashen Silva 10 overs, 2 maidens, 4 wickets, for 21 runs.
It was an excellent performance from the whole team, but the honours went to Ashen Silva who in two games over the weekend made two half centuries, scoring over sixty in both games, whilst taking four wickets in both matches. Over the last two seasons the players have become a really tight squad and strong team with a mixture of youth and experience as the image above shows.
Match Details
Earby Cricket Club – Viljoen, Dobson, Perry, A.Hodge, C.Walton, C.Walton, Qwabe, N.Hodge, Hipgrave, Robinson, H.Brindle
Settle Cricket Club – Phillipson, J.Davidson, Silva, J.Snowden, W.Davidson, Niles, R.Davidson, Read, H.Snowden, Pickles, Hulse
Umpires – Stephen Hipgrave, John Whalley
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