BIZARRE FINISH AT ORIEL AS THIRDS KEEP PROMOTION HOPES ALIVE   Date: 10 Aug 09

After restricting Heslerton 2nds to a modest 122 for 7  (40 overs) at Oriel on Saturday ,  Scarborough 3rds reached the same score with only 2 wickets down and 5 overs to go.

It was at this stage that the Scarborough captain Martin North instructed both the not out batsman to remain in their respective creases and only  win the match by hitting a boundary four, which would result in Boro securing a second batting bonus point  which could have a crucial bearing in which team takes the second promotion spot at the end of the season,  and possible promotion to the Beckett League.

Unfortunately these tactics did not go down too well with the opposition and the on field Scarborough umpire as both Tom Precious  and Kawsar Ahmed  had chances to win the game in the next three overs  with  singles  and on one occasion with a possible all run three but declined  sticking to the task as instructed.When both batsman were dismissed trying to finalise matters  there were only 3 overs remaining and North decided to promote himself and Barry Mitchell  up the order. Ironically it was the skipper who struck the vital blow hitting Dufill  to the square leg boundary with just 7 balls remaining.(see full match report )

Before the Saturday games both Commercial and Scarborough were lying joint  second in the table on 176 points with 4 games each,remaining.As it turned  out Commercial easily defeated bottom place Foords and took 20 points in the process as against Scarborough's 15  points for their win against Heslerton.

Only time will tell whether Martin North's calculated ploy in securing the extra point will pay off.