Bradford Town v Hinton Charterhouse

Bradford Town 1st XI (7 points) lost to Hinton Charterhouse 1st XI (23 points) by 7 wickets.

After losing the toss on a hot day, Bradford were surprisingly sent into bat on a good track at Hinton Charterhouse.

After the initial wicket of opener Nick Gerrish for 4, a solid second wicket partnership of 94 between skipper James Edwards and opener Clive Warren took Bradford into a strong position.

Veteran Warren registered 51 runs before he was run out from a good piece of fielding. This sparked a Bradford collapse falling from 102 for 1 to 158 for 8.

Edwards recording his second consecutive fifty with a typically determined 54. A late order flourish from Jon Moss (30*) and Sam Edwards (12*) took Bradford to a total of 206 for 8 from their 45 overs.

In response two early wickets from the in-form Kegan Smart reduced the home side to 29 for 2.

However, this was to be a false dawn for the Bradford side as Chris Antrobus with a well made 56 and then an unbeaten 122 run partnership between father and son duo Rich Newport (52*) and Jeffrey Newport (71*) saw Hinton Charterhouse to their first victory of the season, by a margin of 7 wickets.

Bradford Town’s first defeat of the season, which they will hope to prove was just a temporary hiccup in their season with a home game against Cooper Avon Tyres this Saturday at Culver Close.

Bradford Town 2nd XI v Mildenhall XI

Bradford Town 2nd XI (20 point) beat Mildenhall (6 points) by 6 wickets.

On a hot, dry day the toss was won by Mildenhall skipper Adam Tunmore who had no hesitation in deciding to bat first.

Their innings got off to a slow start with the Bradford opening pair of Khyl Harrington and Ben Powell (returning from university) bowling well.

The first wicket of Stewart Barnett fell in the fourth over with the score on 10, Ben Powell claiming the wicket. Powell bowled with some pace and deserved excellent figures of 2-9 from his six overs.

Powell also claimed the wicket of the dangerous Ali Baldwin (3).

Steve Cook showed all his experience in gathering 27 well made runs before being given out LBW to Dean Bird for 27. This brought the captain, Adam Tunmore (35) to the crease and he wasted no time in taking 14 (two fours and a six) from one Bird over. However, Dean Bird kept his nerve and maintained a good line and length and finished with figures of 12-1-51-2.

The Mildenhall number six was unlucky to get himself out hit wicket and Tunmore was out to Richard Smith with a loose stroke outside the off stump.

This left J. Smith (22) and Nick Parkinson-Hill to get the score up to a defendable total and Parkinson-Hill wasted not time scoring 21 quick fire runs to get the score up to 155 of the 45 overs.

Robert Powell and Graham Long were reunited as the Bradford opening pair, but the partnership only lasted 20 runs and seven overs when Graham Long (12) was brilliantly caught by Steve Cook in the covers off the bowling of Nick Parkinson-Hill.

Parkinson-Hill (6.0-0-22-1) bowled with pace and the experienced Steve Trute (8.0-3-29-1) bowled with his usual accuracy.

Robert Powell was out for 6 off the bowling of Trute leaving Bradford wobbling on 22-1 in the ninth over.

This brought together Matthew Harrington and Huw Ricketts.

The pair put on 33 runs for the third wicket and were beginning to look comfortable, until Harrington chopped the ball on to his stumps from the bowling of Richard Cook (12-3-39-2).

Tony Burrows then joined Ricketts at the crease and started to build a solid partnership. Both batsmen played with confidence and hit some strong shots down the ground.

When Burrows was eventually out three runs short of his half century the partnership had grown to 96 runs.

It was then left to Ricketts (65 not out) to finish off the innings, giving Bradford a six wicket victory.