Hudson and Vanner point towards York’s cricket future
IT HAS BEEN over six years since a player from the University of York Men’s 1sts cricket team scored a century.
In an eventful week, York scored two within 20 minutes of each other whilst playing Bradford University last Wednesday and almost scored a third in the Roses meeting against Lancaster later in the week.
Despite the failings of previous seasons where York have struggled to provide a solid batting line-up, this one was reliable enough to post good scores match after match - this year the situation has reversed.
A thrilling opening partnership of 267 from new boys Tom Hudson and Nick Vanner saw both players making centuries against Bradford.
The two openers crashed the ball through the covers over after over, slogging the ball over the short boundary regularly, and when not scoring highly, they kept the runs ticking over with shrewd running between the wickets.
There was an obvious intrinsic understanding and confidence between the pair as they shared the scoring between them and built their innings in similar fashions. Eventually, both players were removed after taking poor, over-confident shots.
Although it could have been assumed that Wednesday’s performance was mere fluke, another fluid and dominant performance came from Hudson over the Roses weekend in which he scored 90.
Once again, Hudson showed he has the ability to build a convincing innings and time his offense correctly.
Not only did he impress in the batting line-up, but also starred as a pivotal bowler in the York attack. His accurate finger-spinning proved problematic for both Bradford and Lancaster as he took two wickets in three overs and one wicket in ten, respectively.
Opening batting partner Nick Vanner spoke post-match of his liking for playing alongside Vanner, saying their use of the shorter boundary at York’s cricket fields to their full advantage had helped them succeed and that they were working on engaging with slower bowling which had previously caused the battting pair problems. The York team will be looking for more of the same in the next seven days. An intense fixture pile-up due to the postponement of games due to Roses means that within seven days, they will face games against Huddersfield, York St. John and a potentially crucial final game against Leeds University Men’s 1sts which may decide who is promoted.
