First of all, I’d like to say congratulations to the ground staff, as the ground looked impeccable.
Leek won the toss and elected to bat on a sun-kissed afternoon at Checkley. The wicket looked to have a tinge of green to it, so there could be some early movement for the seamers.
Tom Moulton was out early, flashing at a wide one from Charlie Lewis, only to edge to Nils Priestly at first slip for 6.
Hamaiz Mahmood quickly followed LBW to Cooper for a duck, leaving Leek 23/2. Matthew Morris and Alex Mellor rebuilt the Leek innings, with Morris punishing anything full. He drives with such power and prominence.
Checkley’s change bowlers struggled to match the accuracy of the openers, and runs began to flow after the first powerplay. Morris moved serenely to his 50 from 51 balls with 9 crisply struck boundaries. Mellor’s own 50 was reached shortly afterwards, coming off 52 balls with eight 4s. He was especially brutal against anything short. Ben Haslegrave’s 5 overs went for 43 as he was both short and wide to the set batters. Leek made their way comfortably to 126/2 at the halfway stage.
Morris was bowled by Farrington for 80 while playing a nothing shot. He’ll be annoyed because he left plenty of runs out there.
Mellor found another partner in Slater, the pair added 99 for the 4th wicket as the Checkley bowlers toiled with the wicket beginning to flatten out under the afternoon sun.
Mellor was eventually bowled by Bryce Parsons for 84, attempting a sweep as Leek tried to push the scoring rate even higher. His innings contained twelve 4s, and he failed to convert a good start into three figures.
Slater continued to attack the bowling and hit a towering straight 6 off Parsons that sailed over the sidescreen. He ended with an unbeaten 74 as Leek closed on 270/5 off their 45 overs.
I believe Leek’s total is just above par, as the wicket is good but slow, scoring appeared more difficult against the older ball when pace came off. The outfield is fast and will only get quicker as the match progresses.
Set 271 to win, Leek got an early breakthrough when Morris skidded a delivery through Broadwell’s pull shot to leave Checkley 15/1 in the 3rd over.
James Kettleborough edged his first ball through a vacant 2nd slip to leave the Leek fielders with their heads in their hands in a “what could have been” moment.
Kettleborough and opener Carrigan then built a steady partnership as runs began to flow. Checkley were 64/1 at the end of the first powerplay as the Leek seamers were expensive and ill-disciplined. Hudson and Willot leaking runs as the Checkley score grew. The introduction of slow left-armer Ross Deardon brought about the dismissal of Carrigan, stumped by Mellor for 31.
Stand-in professional Bryce Parsons then entered at number 4, he and Kettleborough built steadily before Parsons hit seamer Moulton for an enormous 6 over mid wicket, then followed it with a textbook cover drive through extra cover as the Checkley 100 came up in the 14th over.
Checkley reached 144/2 at drinks with both set batters going well; the introduction of Anis Raza after the drinks break looked to have swung the game in Checkley’s favour after Parsons unleashed a vicious assault on the left-arm spinner.
After reaching his 50 off 45 balls with a reverse sweep, Parsons hit Raza for four 6s over two overs as he really began to motor along. He did lose Kettleborough for a well-made 50 off 63 balls when he edged Raza behind to Mellor. Kettleborough’s innings was full of hard run 2s as he always puts pressure on the fielding team.
Parsons was really tucking into the Leek bowling as he went to his century in 69 balls, meaning he’d gone from 50 to 100 in only 24 balls! Taking 18 runs of the 31st over to go from 89 to 107. His innings was finally ended when he was given out LBW trying to reverse hit off the bowling of Jack Bowcock for 115 off 76 balls; he hit thirteen 4s and six towering 6s in a brutal display of hitting. The game looked over when he departed, but this was just the start of a remarkable passage of play where the Leek bowlers almost pulled off an unlikely victory.
Nils Priestly was dismissed for 4 to leave Checkley 230/5 with 7 overs to go, Allen and Hewitt then took Checkley to 250 before Hewitt was bowled by Moulton.
Allen and Haslegrave added 15, with Allen batting patiently, slowly adding to the Checkley total as they inched toward victory. However, Haslegrave went for glory, only to sky the ball to cover, where he was caught by Moulton off the bowling of Deardon to leave Checkley 265/7.
Farrington was then bowled by Deardon’s next ball to leave Checkley rocking on 265/8. Moulton then bowled Allen with the first ball of the 44th over to leave Checkley 265/9, now having lost 3 wickets for no runs in 4 balls. Number 11 Charlie Lewis was then beaten by a yorker from Moulton that went between leg stump and keeper Mellor for 4 byes to inch only two away from victory. Two more dot balls followed before another Bye off the final ball of the over brought the score level.
Lewis then attempted to cut Hudson’s first ball of the final over, only to see the ball fly over gully and run away for 4 to see Checkley to a dramatic victory by 1 wicket, and send the healthy crowd into rapturous applause as the sun began to set on a lovely April evening at Four Trees.
Leek will rue not getting more runs in the first innings. Both Morris and Mellor could have made three figures, and maybe pushed them up to 300 as the pitch flattened. But they’ll be more disappointed in their ill-disciplined bowling; 7 no-balls across the innings were punished by the Checkley batters, proving crucial in the end.
A great game played in wonderful spirit, let’s hope that every game can be this exciting.
Teas – Checkley offers a small selection of filled baps, sausage rolls, pasties and pies with peas and gravy. If you’re craving something sweet, they have a selection of homemade cakes and ice lollies. All in all, a small but pleasing range.
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Very good reading thanks mate Malc