5th September 2009

It was a record breaking Saturday for Treeton’s first XI when they put Houghton Main to the sword at Washfield Lane.

Winning the toss and electing to bat first, Treeton made the visitors chase the ball to all parts as openers Andy Tomlinson and Steve Foster were in destructive form as they piled on a splendid 335 for the first wicket before Tomlinson departed for his second highest score of the season making 138 (15x4’s, 4x6’s) which fell four runs short of his innings against Papplewick in the National knockout earlier in the season.

The duo’s partnership was the highest 1st wicket partnership in the League’s history.

Meanwhile his opening partner Steve Foster stayed to the end as he reached a personal best of 206 not out (28x4’s, 5x6’s) which was also the highest score of the season in the South Yorkshire League eclipsing Wickersley captain John Trower’s 178 against Darfield. Treeton’s innings closed at 377 for 1 wicket.

Houghton Main then put up a good showing in their reply as they kept Treeton in the field for the 50 overs as they scored 276 for 9 wickets as Montgomery, Ashdown, Silva and Kemp all picked up a wicket apiece to bag the hosts another seven points to put them in touching distance of the highest points tally in the Premier League with one game to play.

The following day saw the Final of the Yorkshire Council Play Off’s against Centrak Yorkshire League outfit Townville, played at Ackworth CC in Pontefract.

In front of a very good crowd at Ackworth, Treeton skipper Chris Cobb won the toss and elected to field first on a good looking wicket. It was a decision he may have regretted as Treeton allowed the opposition to get off to a flyer as former Essex and Northants opener Tim Walton smacked 70 from just 57 balls before he was bowled by Ben Ashdown. The only other significant score came from Townville’s Kiwi overseas player Brad Cachopa as he contributed 57 as his side reached 248 for 9, Steve Foster was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 50 from 9 overs.

Treeton’s reply started well as the openers put on 69 for the first wicket, but when Townville introduced spin into the attack creating abnormal turn and bounce this made scoring extremely difficult for the batsman and wickets fell at regular intervals and Danny Kemp was the only player to reach a half century as he was left stranded on 66 not out as the rest of the team crumbled around him and Treeton could only manage 198 all out. A good fight by the Treeton lads but on the day they just fell short of what they were capable of but nevertheless it was still a successful campaign in reaching the final but just losing out to a better side on the day, congratulations to Townville.

Treeton’s 2nd XI knew exactly what they had to do from their final two games, maximum points wins would see them promoted to Division One of the South Yorkshire League and they faced Sheffield United 2nd XI in their first of the must win games.

United were invited to bat first and Matt Haddock was on top form as he returned with seasons best figures of 4 for 41 from 14.34 overs as he helped to restrict the home side to 155 all out giving the 2nds a terrific opportunity of victory.

The batsmen then set about their task well and it took contributions from skipper Mick Fairman (38) and Ryan Hardy (37) to keep the nerves at bay as they guided the team to a three wicket win and seven points in the bag! Next week sees a must win game again against Whitley Hall to be sure of promotion!

The 3rd team struggled at home to Richmond as they could only manage 106 for 9 with Treeton legend John Foster top scoring with 39, however the bowlers couldn’t pull off the unexpected and Treeton lost by nine wickets.

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