After a two year break to accommodate that weird and wonderful Covid thingamy, the Two Counties Seniors finally got their show on the road in Embsay on Monday July 3rd. Sadly though I have to report that our astonishing four year unbeaten run in Yorkshire finally came to an end.

In near Arctic weather conditions, something our Seniors are certainly unaccustomed to, our doughty batting line-up chose to display their lack of talents first, and boy oh boy, did they struggle. Thankfully we did have a saviour, and it wasn’t the weather, but Nick Meakin. His 70, aided by an extremely stoic undefeated 33 from virgin tourist, Trevor Money, save us from total humiliation on a ground on which we had not lost since 2017. The pair took us from 53-5 from 19 overs to 139 from 36 before Nick decided, unwisely, to give the bowler some catching practise. Another tour virgin, Ken Greenaway, then came to the crease, but whilst we were thinking 140 all out, the pair had different ideas and by simply closing their eyes and swingining, they took us to a respectable 170-6 from our allocation of 40 overs of dibbly-dobbly rubbish.

Now it was the turn of the home team to show us how it should be done, and they did. They kept the scoring rate absolutely on point, and eased themselves through to 174-6 with an over or so to spare. Scott Robinson, fresh from filming the final episode of Neighbours, top scored with 41. Three of his team-mates all weighed in with individual scores in the 30’s. Pick of our bowlers, I suppose, was Chris Hills, who returned 1-11 from his seven overs, four of which were maidens.

Two Counties Seniors 170-6 (Meakin 70, Money 33no) Embsay Seniors 174-6 (S.Robinson 41, N.Robinson 34no, Robertson 33)

Tuesday:

Day two and it’s all aboard the charabanc, and head off over the hills to Steeton Cricket Club, home of the famous teas. Three years ago we had the temerity to walk away from Steeton with a hard earned victory. Now those stout Yorkists needed to exact revenge, they don’t forget when their pride has been damaged.
Early doors the Two Counties Seniors kept their opponents under a modicum of control, and 46-2 from 13 overs was a decent return. Sadly though it didn’t last, and with four of their batsmen scoring between 38 and 44, they were able to take their final score to 232-8 from their 40 overs.

Batting after the banquet, the Two Counties found their full bellies a real handicap to their batting. It was left to Nick Meakin to repeat his fine batting at Embsay, with another 70, and a hard hitting Pat Patel, who launched the bowlers for 79 not out. However, despite those heroic efforts, the scoring rate could not get us ahead of the eight ball, and our 40 overs ended with a total of 222-8.

Steeton Veterans 232-6 (Freemans 44, Howarth 41no, Higginson 40, Akridd 38, Shahid 3-43); Two Counties Seniors 222-6 (Patel 79, Meakin 70, Chapman 3-39)

Wednesday: Another venue, another opponent, but also, yet another defeat. We moved a mile or two up t’road to Sutton-in-Craven. The wind returned after an all too brief respite at Steeton, and there was no sign of the regular ice cream van. The latter shouldn’t have surprised anyone as a mobile soup kitchen would have been more appropriate. The home team batted first and scored too many! We hardly assisted our own cause with some injudicious fielding, and this allowed Sutton-in-Craven to close their 40 overs with 183, the final wicket falling to the final ball of the innings.

Confidence was high was we began our reply, at 0-0 from 0.0 overs we were looking good, but one has to wonder when any innings was played with the two opening batsmen being dismissed “run out”. In reality those two batsmen, Sudi Trevedi and John Stuck were two of our three top scorers, Stucky going first for 21, and Trevedi, later for 41. The pairing of Steve Bulger and Tan Shahid gave us hope, but the momentum could not be maintained, and wickets fell rather than runs were scored. The demise of Bulger for 40 basically signalled the end for us as it preceeded a calamitous collapse from 143-4 to 158-9, with the final handful of balls being blocked out to ensure the innings ran its full course.

Sutton-in-Craven Veterans 183 (Fountain 39, Hurley 39 not out, Southwell 4-32), Two Counties Seniors 158-9 (Trevedi 41, Bulger 40, Thornton 4-19)

Time for us now to head into Skipton, minus a few players who are required to play elsewhere. We had not been forewarned about what awaited us there. Soon after our arrival some very youthful looking pensioners began to arrive at the ground, and it became apparent that instead of playing an Over 60s XI we would be testing our mettle against an Over 16s XI. We batted first and pretty much struggled against some of the slowest, spinniest bowling you can imagine. Extras was actually our top scorer with 41 as we closed with 164-7 on the board. Sudi Trevedi was the next best contributor with 37. Only John Gallant and Nick Meakin also exceeded 20.

Skipton’s sprightly young things then crash, banged, and walloped their way through to 168-7 in less than 27 overs, even having the temerity to run a four!!

Battered and bruised from four defeats the remaining tourists then decamped t’pub for much needed succour before heading either home or back t’hotel for one last nights sleep.

Two Counties Seniors 164-7 (Trevedi 37, extras 41); Skipton XI 168-7 (J.Fry 45, G.Owens 37, Southwell 3-35).