Gedling are Champion of Champions
by Paul Barker, 19th September 2004

This annual match was held at the picturesque Papplewick and Linby Ground and featured the South Nottinghamshire Cricket League Champions, Gedling and their Bassetlaw League counterparts Mansfield Hosiery Mills.

A good match was expected and nobody was disappointed as two good sides gave a terrific account of themselves in conditions which due to the wet weather of the last few days were far from favourable to the batsmen on both sides.

Gedling from the South Nottinghamshire League had only clinched their title on the very last day of the season when they eclipsed long time leaders Plumtree, whilst Hosiery Mills had simply run away with their title leaving all their challengers for dead. One would have expected from this that the Hosiery Mills were slight favourites but after an interesting dual Gedling emerged as winners by 43 runs.

Batting first Gedling were soon in trouble as they got away to a painfully slow start before losing skipper Shane Pidgeon with the score at 10 caught by wicket-keeper Jeff Appleton from a regulation effort off Darren Johnson.

It was still hard work from this moment on with David Mason batting solidly and Graham Burton trying to strike the ball without a lot of success. The next wicket fell at 44 when Burton pulled a shortish delivery from Jason Gorman straight into the hands of Bill Frodsham at mid wicket and departed for a well made 19.

The Hosiery Mills attack continued to do the business and Sri-Lankan star Asela Jayasinghe grabbed the next two wickets to fall, clean bowling Jeff Burton for 9, and Tom Coffey for 4 and when Jason Gorman bowled Michael Bailey, then accepted a return catch to get rid of Nadeem Akhtar and clean bowled Zaheer Rahman, Gedling had slumped to 118 for 7 and were looking in a bad way.

However Mason who had opened the innings was still battling along and despite being dropped once he completed an excellent and most valuable 50 and with Steve Burton striking the ball sweetly the Gedling scoring rate was at last rocketing up and giving Hosiery Mills cause for concern.

The final score of 167 for 7 represented a good effort with Mason undefeated for a magnificent 84 and Steve Burton adding a most valuable 28 n.o. in an eighth wicket unbroken partnership of 49 which was to prove extremely decisive in the context of the match.

Jason Gorman with 4 for 55 was the most productive of the Hosiery Mills attack and excellent support came from Asela Jayasinghe (2 for 21) and Darren Johnson (1 for 19), but two dropped catches at vital times were later to cost Hosiery Mills dearly.

There are bad starts and bad starts and Hosiery Mills got away to an absolute shocker as Jeff Burton tore into them from the word go taking three wickets and with Justin Cullen also getting in on the act the Mansfield side were rocked back on their heels at 7 for 4.

First to go was Kyle Garside, bowled by Burton and then Dave Loveridge was caught by wicket-keeper Shane Pidgeon with neither player troubling the scorers. Matt New was dismissed in the same fashion as Loveridge for jus two and then Ben Rossi was bowled neck and crop by Cullen for just one.

From this awful position Hosiery Mills needed something special and looked as though they might have found it as Jason Gorman and Asela Jayasinghe began to take command. Both players ran well between the wickets and took every opportunity to score and just when it looked as though they were turning the match in their favour the only contentious decision of the day saw Jayasinghe given out l.b.w. to Micheal Bailey.

Jayasinghe looked rather disappointed as the ball looked as though it might well have pitched outside leg stump and also looked rather high. This pair had added 48 runs and looked to be building bridges but the arrival of skipper Mark Langford kept Hosiery Mills moving in the right direction and victory looked possible once again.

However at 92 they lost the vital wicket of Gorman who was caught at long on by Cullen to give Bailey his second wicket and when Jeff Appleton fell run out at 99 after an horrible mix-up between himself and Langford the writing was on the wall and their looked no way back for the Hosiery Mills.

Although Mark Langford battled on making 24 before he was stumped by Pidgeon off the bowling of Tom Coffey it was by this time only a token gesture and with Andy Bacon caught at mid-wicket off Coffey and Bill Frodsham aiming a return catch to Jeff Burton Gedling had done the business and bowled out their opposition for 124 to record a 43 runs win.

Jeff Burton bowled with hostility and pace to take the incredible figures of 4 for 4 from just 6.3 overs a remarkable feat. He was well backed up by Michael Bailey (2 for 29), Tom Coffey (2 for 18) and Justin Cullen (1 for 7) in a really good team effort by Gedling.

The presentation party was Mr. Trevor Wilson and Mr. Keith Sheppard and they presented momentos to the two scorers and the two umpires Mr. Harry Fidler and Mr. Toby Sheppard. The teams then collected their individual trophies and quite rightly David Mason was named as Man of the Match for his magnificent unbeaten 84 runs for Gedling. No other batsman looked comfortable all day and that shows what a superb innings Mason played. He was awarded a bat which was donated by Mapperley Sports.

So another season comes to an end and it is only right to sign off with praise for both sides who played the game in the right spirit and gave everything they had for their team’s cause. Both sides can now look forward to life in the Nottinghamshire Premier League in 2005 and we can only wait to see how they perform.

Scorecard

GEDLING COLLIERY

MANSFIELD HOSIERY MILLS