York romps home to victory after massive innings against Bradford
York Men’s 1sts 421-5
Bradford 1sts 200-10
York cruised to a 221 run victory on Wednesday as the men’s first cricket team dominated Bradford despite the absence of their captain in the opening BUSA league game of the season.
Stellar performances from opening batsmen Tom Hudson and Nick Vanner laid the foundations with a record breaking opening partnership of 267. It took a searing full toss from the Bradford seamer to unhinge the partnership which put York firmly in command - eventually reaching a total of 421 - 5, a team high for over six years.
The high scoring of York’s batsmen was clearly having an effect on the fielders, who throughout the innings seemed uncomfortable and were making more than occasional fielding errors - helping York on the way to a near insurmountable total.
At points the lack of experience and coaching in the field became comical, as Bradford players dropped several easy catches on the edge of the boundary and failed to prevent fours over after over, often simply due to a lack of commitment.
In the 36th over there was a snatched throw at the stumps which missed the stumps by several metres, suggesting that the fielders were getting desperate for a wicket in the face of York’s batting brilliance.
During the innings there was a hint at some underhanded tactics from the Bradford leg spinner, who appeared to be throwing the ball. However, despite the York team’s complaints the umpire determined that the technique was a legal style, if rather unorthodox.
This caused some problems with the batsmen who had to adapt quickly to avoid making a mistake in the face of unpredictable deliveries. They did this successfully though, playing their shots with care and not taking any unnecessary chances.
First year Nick Vanner who scored an impressive innings total, said, “I love batting with Tom [Hudson], he’s a great strong batsman to partner with. I think we made great use of the shorter boundary on one side and we’re starting to get used to the slower pitch. It was a top performance from the guys.”
After the break, Bradford came out to face an average run rate of 8.4. The score seemed to overwhelm Bradford, and instead of attempting to build an innings they forced themselves into playing poor shots.
However, the first wicket was taken after just the second ball when a error led to the opening batsman running himself out.
From this point onwards, Bradford never came to terms with the task which faced them, as the second wicket fell soon afterwards off impressive bowling from strike bowler Antony Butterfield.
Bradford came back in the middle stages to an extent, creating a solid partnership between the number 4 and 5 batsmen—but once the next wicket had fallen after a deceptive ball from man of the match Hudson, it was as good as over for the visitors. York bowled Bradford out for 200 with 12 overs to spare.
Hudson was the pick of the bowlers, despite having an injured wrist, taking two wickets with his first two overs and going on to take two further wickets by the end of the match. Post-match, Hudson was in an upbeat mood, saying, “We got off to a good start and it was always nice to get a century. I was glad to get a few overs in before Roses.”
The injured York captain Jamie Vanner was also full of praise for his team, even though it was obvious he was itching to get back into the game despite recently suffering from tonsillitis. He put the performance down partly to the preparation the team went through before the opening match: “A major contributing factor this season is the indoor cricket and the vastly improved net facilities for training in the winter. They are fantastic facilities and helped us tremendously in preparing for the season ahead”.
York made a strong start to their BUSA campaign, and with all players likely to be fit by the weekend, they surely have the momentum to go into their next game against Huddersfield, who lost to York St. John’s last week.
