Felthorpe v Drayton 'A' 9th May 2009

Felthorpe 293-3 Drayton 'A' 188 A match which was not without incident. With opposition batsmen Lofthouse and Hall both scoring centuries; the Drayton strike bowler, Jamie Scarff, gone in the groin (not sure of the correct medical term!) after his first two balls; and the Drayton President collapsing in a heap at the non-striker�s end this was a match to remember, not least because it was played in good spirit by both sides.

For those who had never played at Felthorpe before, it was good to see on arrival that the wicket looked a belter, the awkwardly shaped outfield quick and the boundary on the Hall side very short. A high-scoring match appeared imminent. Skipper Graham Crowe won the toss and, as last week, inserted the opposition.After the first over, Scarff was out of the attack; after 4 overs Felthorpe had scored 30 runs.

Crowe marshalled his limited bowling resources (Scarff came back bravely to bowl five more overs off a short run, and Chairman Taylor even had to bowl an over!) carefully, but every bad ball went for a boundary. James Pepper�s first seven, as he bowled in tandem with Nigel Massingham, proved the most economic and both bowlers beat the bat, without reward. James Reeve ended with two of the three wickets to fall, one the result of a spectacular caught and bowled. Felthorpe wicket-keeper/batsman Lofty Lofthouse is quick on his feet and not tall, so it was unfortunate that he was fed too many short balls with width. He was fortunate to have a life on 20 when a skier dropped harmlessly with no-one going for it. 86 runs later, he finally succumbed. His partnership with Hall, who won the divisional batting award last season threatened to break records, but Drayton stuck to it in the field.

Faced with a run rate of nearly six and a half per over, Mike Sutton and Chris Coupland (26) started carefully, against some lively bowling, but batsmen perished, trying to keep up with the rate or departed by ambulance(fortunately just as a precaution, in Tony Gregory�s case). When Massingham (26, with 6 fours) departed after an intelligent innings, Drayton satisfied themselves with a calculated attempt on batting points. A heroic last wicket stand between Scarff (top scorer, 27) and Ryan Pointer (15 not out),who batted with great sense and no little technique against the spinners,nearly achieved the fifth batting point.RT