Skippers play down incidents as East Bierley go second in JCT600 Bradford League (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Skippers play down incidents as East Bierley go second in JCT600 Bradford League

4:20pm Sunday 15th July 2012 in Sport By David Markham

Skipper Lee Goddard praised his bowlers - and especially slow left-armer Luke Jarvis – as East Bierley moved into second place in the JCT600 Bradford League First Division after an unexpectedly comfortable five-wicket win at Bradford & Bingley yesterday.

The visitors took advantage of helpful conditions to bowl out Bingley for a hopelessly inadequate 129 before cruising home with 32 overs to spare, despite the loss of late wickets.

Goddard said: “The ball was swinging around early on and Luke Jarvis bowled with a lot of control. It was also turning and that worked considerably in our favour.

“The fact that our second spinner Kez Ahmed only bowled two balls was a credit to our seam bowlers – the wicket was quite slow with not much bounce and carry.

“It’s been a frustrating period for us because of the weather. We are second in the table, through to the semi-finals of the Priestley Cup and Twenty20 competition so we having a good season, but it doesn’t feel like much cricket has been played – it is bizarre.”

Bingley skipper Phil Slater, who won the toss and batted, was critical of his team.

He said: “If you look at the season so far we are our own worst enemies. We get a good partnership going and then we lose wickets in clusters like we did today. That is not good enough. You cannot afford to give wickets away.

“We didn’t get enough runs – that was never a 129-all-out wicket. The odd ball turned and the odd one went straight on, but the wicket didn’t change much during the match.

“We needed to make early inroads and we had a good shout for lbw against Gavin Hamilton. There was also a dropped catch and a missed stumping before he made ten. There are no excuses for that.”

As Bingley recovered from losing Scott Etherington cheaply with a second-wicket stand of 58 between opener Simon Davies (37) and Alex Atkinson (24), there was no sign of a collapse.

However, the game changed dramatically as they lost three wickets for two runs after Jarvis entered the attack to leave them struggling at 78-4.

They never properly recovered as wickets fell at frequent intervals and were bowled out in 38.2 overs with Jarvis taking 5-34.

Former Scotland and Yorkshire all-rounder Hamilton made Bingley pay for those early missed chances as he and Kez Ahmed added 94 for the first wicket.

Slow left-armer Sandheep Ravishanker broke the stand, bowling Hamilton for 53, and Slater trapped Ahmed lbw for 38 without addition.

Three more wickets fell to leave Bingley with two bowling points, but ill-tempered exchanges marred the closing stages as Bierley neared their modest target, and the umpires had to speak to the players.

Some spectators were upset as angry words were exchanged on the pitch but both captains played down the incidents. .

Goddard said: “We are passionate about the game and we want to win. There was a little bit of argy-bargy, but you shake hands at the end of the game and there is no ill feeling towards anyone.

“The umpires had a word to calm things down. You get heated on the pitch, but it is forgotten once the game is over.”

Bingley skipper Phil Slater said: “It was an important game and sometimes tempers fray. Certain things are said on the pitch but there is no malice behind it. As long as you shake hands, there is no problem.”