Alex Lees 83 not out as Academy near the top

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Closing the gap: opener Alex Lees, who held Yorkshire Academy together with 83 not out, and steered them to within one win of being top of the Yorkshire League

Opener Alex Lees, above, held Yorkshire Academy together with 83 not out as they beat Cleethorpes by four wickets to go within one victory of being top of the Solly Sports ECB Yorkshire County Premier League on Saturday.

Cleethorpes won the toss at Weetwood, opted to take strike - and lost Bill Kirby in the 11th over for 20 when wicket-keeper Henry Chadwick caught him off Jack Hargreaves. Eddie Carlton was caught by Hargreaves off medium-pacer David Girling, and Cleethorpes were 45-2 in 16 overs. Apart from wicket-keeper Neil Wheeler, 14, and overseaes player Peter Fulton no one else made double figures. A pretty poor display.

Fulton made a slow start - but set himself to bat through the innings. His was an excellent knock - 94 runs in 144 minutes of 116 balls, with 11 fours and two sixes, but he departed in the 54th over when Academy skipper John Blain held a skier at deep-mid-off.

Once again the Academy spinners were responsible for wickets and containment. Left-hander Gurman Randhawa had the outstanding figures of 15-5-35-3, and with Jack Hughes nursing a groin strain off-spinner George Ross subdued the Cleethorpes middle-order with 3-37 in 11 overs. Randhawa gave the Academy chance to take all eight points when he bowled No. 11 John Zielinski with only six balls of the innings remaining.

Lees and Ross had scored only 13 when Andy Ellis had Ross lbw, and Irfan Amjad fell to Ellis six runs later. The more experienced Callum Geldart and Lees then took control - taking the total to 94 before Ellis had Geldart, 45, stumped when they had put on 75.

Lees stood firm: taking few chances and realising that he had to play a long innings, he scored many runs in the mid-wicket area and should have been a role model for the rest of the middle-order. They did not take heed it.

Wickets fell, and batsmen reached only single figures before returning to the pavilion with heads on chests. The innings had ground to 152-6 when Girling was lbw to leg-spinner Alex Osmond - his third wicket. Osmond and Ellis contained the batsmen - whenever they tried to break out wickets had fallen - but by Yorkshire League standards 173 is a low score to chase.

The lack of a penetrative third bowler and a target some 30 runs short still left the Academy with the aces. Lees was still there - but he needed a partner to play straight and stay in. Cometh the man...Randhawa. The target was reached with Lees on a superb 83 not out off 168 balls, with 11 fours. Academy home with eight balls left.

Ellis and Osmond bowled very well, but they need support from a third man. Lees was largely responsible for the Academy's eight-point victory - which puts them in second place, 18 points behind League leaders York. Victory in next week's home fixture against York could close the gap.

Below Harold Galley's scoresheet you will find the Yorkshire League Table.

Solly Sports Yorkshire ECB County Premier League

Yorkshire Academy CC 1st XI v Cleethorpes CC 1st XI

Saturday, July 10 2010 (12:00) at Weetwood, Leeds

Yorkshire Academy CC 1st XI Won By 4 wickets

Points: Yorkshire Academy CC 1st XI: 8 Cleethorpes CC 1st XI: 0

Cleethorpes CC 1st XI won toss and decided to bat

Cleethorpes CC 1st XI	Yorkshire Academy CC 1st XI
173 all out (54.0 overs)	174 for 6 (53.4 overs)
3 Hours, 12 Minutes.	2 Hours, 56 Minutes.

Cleethorpes CC 1st XI

Batsman			Runs	Balls	Mins	4s	6s	S/r
Bill Kirby	c H Chadwick	b JB Hargreaves	20	32	42	2	0	62.50
Eddie Carlton	c JB Hargreaves	b D Girling	7	52	63	0	0	13.46
Peter Fulton	c J Blain	b MA Ashraf	94	116	144	11	2	81.03
Alex Osmond	c H Chadwick	b A Lilley	4	16	21	0	0	25.00
Yaniv Judah	c JB Hargreaves	b G Randhawa	5	15	19	1	0	33.33
Charlie Tomlinson*	lbw	b G Randhawa	0	1	1	0	0	0.00
Neil Wheeler+	c MA Ashraf	b G Ross	14	38	39	1	0	36.84
Patrick Hughes	c G Randhawa	b G Ross	6	23	17	0	0	26.09
Jack Harrison	lbw	b G Ross	6	9	7	1	0	66.67
Andy Ellis	not out		2	23	25	0	0	8.70
John Zielinski		b G Randhawa	0	6	6	0	0	0.00
Extras	7nb 0w 4lb 4b 0pen		15
Provisional Score For Innings			173
Penalties awarded following Innings			0
Total			173	all out

Bowler	O	M	R	W	Wd	Nb	S/r	Econ
Moin Ashraf	7.0	1	16	1	0 (0)	0 (0)	42.00	2.29
Jack Hargreaves	7.0	1	16	1	0 (0)	1 (1)	43.00	2.29
David Girling	9.0	2	39	1	0 (0)	0 (0)	54.00	4.33
Alex Lilley	5.0	0	22	1	0 (0)	6 (6)	36.00	4.40
Gurman Randhawa	15.0	5	35	3	0 (0)	0 (0)	30.00	2.33
George Ross	11.0	1	37	3	0 (0)	0 (0)	22.00	3.36

Batsman	Fall of Wicket	Partnership	Batsmen	Over
Bill Kirby	1-28	28	Bill Kirby (20) Eddie Carlton (6)	11.4
Eddie Carlton	2-45	17	Eddie Carlton (1) Peter Fulton (13)	16.1
Alex Osmond	3-58	13	Alex Osmond (4) Peter Fulton (6)	21.2
Yaniv Judah	4-75	17	Yaniv Judah (5) Peter Fulton (11)	25.5
Charlie Tomlinson	5-75	0	Charlie Tomlinson (0) Peter Fulton (0)	25.6
Neil Wheeler	6-122	47	Neil Wheeler (14) Peter Fulton (32)	38.3
Patrick Hughes	7-140	18	Patrick Hughes (6) Peter Fulton (8)	44.4
Jack Harrison	8-150	10	Jack Harrison (6) Peter Fulton (4)	46.3
Peter Fulton	9-173	23	Peter Fulton (20) Andy Ellis (2)	52.2
John Zielinski	10-173	0	John Zielinski (0) Andy Ellis (0)	53.6

Yorkshire Academy CC 1st XI

Batsman			Runs	Balls	Mins	4s	6s	S/r
Alex Lees	not out		83	168	182	11	0	49.40
George Ross	lbw	b A Ellis	7	7	9	1	0	100.00
Irfan Amjad	lbw	b A Ellis	4	5	8	1	0	80.00
Callum Geldart	st N Wheeler	b A Ellis	45	74	82	8	0	60.81
Jack Hargreaves	c N Wheeler	b A Osmond	8	18	24	1	0	44.44
Alex Lilley	lbw	b A Osmond	8	22	24	0	0	36.36
David Girling	lbw	b A Osmond	4	11	15	0	0	36.36
Gurman Randhawa	not out		10	19	20	0	0	52.63
Moin Ashraf
John Blain*
Henry Chadwick+
Extras	3nb 2w 0lb 0b 0pen		5
Provisional Score For Innings			174
Penalties awarded following Innings			0
Total			174	for 6

Bowler	O	M	R	W	Wd	Nb	S/r	Econ
Andy Ellis	21.0	8	49	3	0 (0)	0 (0)	42.00	2.33
John Zielinski	6.0	0	27	0	2 (2)	0 (0)	0.00	4.50
Alex Osmond	21.0	2	76	3	0 (0)	2 (2)	42.67	3.62
Jack Harrison	5.4	1	22	0	0 (0)	1 (1)	0.00	3.88

Batsman	Fall of Wicket	Partnership	Batsmen	Over
George Ross	1-13	13	George Ross (7) Alex Lees (6)	2.6
Irfan Amjad	2-19	6	Irfan Amjad (4) Alex Lees (2)	4.5
Callum Geldart	3-94	75	Callum Geldart (45) Alex Lees (28)	29.4
Jack Hargreaves	4-111	17	Jack Hargreaves (8) Alex Lees (9)	36.5
Alex Lilley	5-135	24	Alex Lilley (8) Alex Lees (14)	44.2
David Girling	6-152	17	David Girling (4) Alex Lees (12)	48.1

Match Report

Alex Lees excellent innings of 83 not out batted through the innings.

Weather: Sunny Pitch: Hard

Umpires: J Holliday R Knowles

Scorers: H Galley G Hackney

Words and Statistics: HAROLD GALLEY

Solly Sports Yorkshire ECB County Premier League

	P	cw	iw1	iw2	iw3	il1	il2	il3	cl	c	a	Pts
York CC	14	9	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	96
Yorkshire Academy CC	14	8	0	1	0	1	0	0	2	1	1	78
Barnsley CC	14	6	0	0	3	0	2	1	0	1	1	74
Castleford CC	14	5	0	1	3	0	0	2	2	1	0	67
Scarborough CC	14	6	0	0	2	1	0	0	4	1	0	65
Rotherham Town CC	14	5	1	0	1	0	0	0	5	1	1	58
Doncaster Town CC	14	3	1	1	2	1	0	2	3	0	1	53
Driffield Town CC	14	5	1	0	0	1	1	1	4	1	0	52
Harrogate CC	14	5	1	0	0	1	0	1	5	1	0	51
Sheffield Collegiate CC	14	3	0	0	2	0	0	1	7	0	1	39
Cleethorpes CC	14	2	1	1	0	0	0	2	7	1	0	31
Sheffield United CC	14	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	9	1	0	27
Appleby Frodingham CC	14	1	0	0	1	1	1	3	6	1	0	20
Hull & YPI CC	14	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	9	1	0	19

'p' = Played
'cw'= COMPLETE WIN (8 points)
'iw1'= INCOMPLETE WIN 6/2 (6 points)
'iw2'= INCOMPLETE WIN 6/1 (6 points)
'iw3'= INCOMPLETE WIN 6/0 (6 points)
'il1'= INCOMPLETE LOSS 2 (2 points)
'il2'= INCOMPLETE LOSS 1 (1 points)
'il3'= INCOMPLETE LOSS 0 (0 points)
'cl'= COMPLETE LOSS (0 points)
'c'= Cancelled no play (3 points)
'a'= Abandoned uncomplete (3 points)
'pen' = Penalty Points
'nrr' = Net Run Rate
'pts' = Total Points