Goole 1sts stumble at final hurdle

On losing the toss, Town were surprisingly asked to field first but this decision was looking less questionable when the visitors raced to 50 without loss inside 10 overs, mainly thanks to Greg Pickles latching on to anything off line or good length.
An opening partnership of 123 between Pickles (81) and Callum Beasley (41) put the strong Knaresborough team in a commanding position until this was finally broken following the half time introduction of the evergreen Dave England into the bowling attack. England, who has been instrumental in the Goole attack this year once again demonstrated his skills as he began to work his way through the Knaresborough top order and at 149/4 the scoreboard now had a much-improved look and Town sensed an opportunity. England who went on to finish with 4/37 off 12 overs was unquestionably Goole’s best bowler and he will be sorely missed in the next two vital games.
The Knaresborough collapse, which would be later replicated by Goole, was soon complete when Kevin Murphy recorded his best figures of the Summer (4/23) as Knaresborough lost 9 wickets in total for just 50 runs to end their innings on 173/9. Ben Shelton with 2 stumpings and Scott Thorpe with a run out rounded off a fine 2nd half fielding display.
A target of 175 was always going to be a challenge on a slow, turning wicket and the hosts could not have got off to a much worse start as openers Shelton and Ben Earl were back in the pavilion before their tea had digested. 4/2.
Goole recovered well, with Oscar Sugden (20) and Guy Richardson (58) sharing a 56-run partnership to get Town back on course. Sugden, who once again was looking the business would have been disappointed to depart on 20 when looking set for a big score – unfortunately this has been the story of his – and the team’s season in general – so far in 2019.
Ashton Nottingham (19) helped to start another useful partnership with the youthful Richardson and looked in classical touch, stroking the off spinner through the covers for a boundary three times in one over before finding one stay too low from the opposite end. At 98/4 Knaresborough were now back on top.
Despite seeing his partners slowly fade away, Richardson was undaunted and continued to set about the run chase in delightful fashion, picking his moments to be aggressive and respecting the good balls – for which there was many.
Together with ‘The Wall’ – Scott Thorpe (12) – a 51 run 4th wicket partnership took Goole to the cusp of victory with the score on 149/4. However, when the wall was knocked down, Goole do what they do best – collapse. 149/5 quickly became 150/6 when the Richardson’s excellent innings (58 off 98 balls) came to an end. However, with only 25 needed, Goole were still odds on for victory but captain Murphy was the architect of his own teams’ downfall when running out Louis Sugden for just 1 and then moments later walked past one (stumped) much to his dismay.
A late rally by Richard Mann (7) still gave Goole hope but when the last two men, England (4*) and Ben Lamb (2) were standing tall – Town needed 7 from 2 overs. Unfortunately, when Lamb went on the attack in the penultimate over, he couldn’t get the excellent Ben Ward (4/45) away and 7 was still required from the final over. England picked up a single from the first ball of the last over but when Lamb played a missed the 2nd ball the writing was on the wall. 20 seconds later and it was game over when Lamb went for a big shot only to see his wickets disappear out of the ground.
Goole, still remain top of the league, but lost their last 6 wickets for only 20 runs and only have themselves to blame for throwing a game away which was firmly in their grasp. It makes for an interesting end to the season……