Killamarsh and Pilsley through in Mallen Trophy
by Paul Barker, 11th July 2005

The first two matches in this year’s Mallen Trophy competition took place between Whitwell and Killamarsh and Pilsley against Anston and both matches were not without incident.

The match at Whitwell almost turned out to be a total catastrophe and had Killamarsh not set out for Whitwell early the unthinkable would certainly have happened. Killamarsh believed the match was at Whitwell and were quite right with that assumption whereas Whitwell wrongly believed the match was to be staged at Killamarsh and of course it almost led to a disaster.

Killamarsh set out early and arrived at the ground just as the Whitwell players were getting into their vehicles to make the journey in the other direction. Hastily things were arranged at The Rookery and an excellent game of cricket was the result.

Batting first Killamarsh totalled a huge 244 for 3 with David Allen making a brilliant unbeaten 104 with shots all round the ground. Great support came from Rodney Cook (55) and Adrian Rivington who clattered a hard hit 41.

Whitwell however deserve credit for making an excellent game of it with skipper Alan Draycott leading from the front with a fine 57. Ryan Coalwood added 36, but Whitwell were finally all out for a creditable 181 with John Griffith being the pick of the Killamarsh bowlers with 3 for 46, losing the match by 63 runs. Of course with the mix-up there was no registered umpires present, but both teams deserve credit for the way they conducted themselves and an excellent match was the result.

The other match took place at Barlow Hill, Pilsley between Anston and Pilsley, two sides who are performing rather well in Division 2. Batting first Anston were restricted to 146 for 6 in the 40 overs with Greg Pearson (48) top scoring. The Pilsley attack bowled exceptionally well against a side who generally score a veritable stack of runs and Michael Thompson was once again their star performer taking 2 for 16 in his usual tidy accurate stint.

As one would have guessed, Anston certainly needed to shift Saeed Bin Nasir to stand any chance and this they failed to do as the masterful Pakistani star bludgeoned his way to 79 in great style. Support came from John Worthy (30 n.o.) and Pilsley clinched a second round place as they totalled 147 for 4 to clinch a six wicket win.

Andy Crowell bowled well to take 3 for 33, but it was too little too late and Pilsley easily moved on to an interesting match against Thoresby Colliery in the quarter finals.