Town C.C and the Miracle at Potters Lane

Those people who were at Syston’s ground on 24th June will never forget what they were fortunate enough to witness. Leicester Caribbean were the visitors and the 2nd XI did well to dismiss them for 125 with Abrar Pathan bowling superbly to take 5-29. Syston’s innings never really got off the ground and they quickly slumped to 30-9 and all seemed lost. However, Syston’s last pair of Dharmist Bathia and Joe Storer (pictured below after the match) had other ideas. They batted correctly and very sensibly and amid scenes of great excitement they put on an unbeaten stand of 97 to win the game. It really was a cricketing miracle the like of which I’ve never seen before nor am likely to see again. Dharmist finished on 53 not out and Joe on 22 not out.
The team also pulled a game out of the fire the previous week with another single wicket victory. A good all round bowling performance saw league leaders Maher Stars dismissed for 143 and despite 52 from Chirag Modi it took last man Joe to steal a quick single off the penultimate ball of the match to win the game. The seconds are on quite a roll and they followed these narrow victories with a comfortable win away at YMA. After bowling out the home side for 169 they knocked off the runs with only three wickets down. Faisal Jariwala was man of the match with four wickets and an unbeaten seventy.
The 1st XI are finding the going tough in the Premier Division having only won one match so far and currently lie second to bottom. Syston’s bowlers are generally doing their job but the batting lacks consistency. The problem was highlighted in the match at Cropston. The home side were bowled out for 177 and with Syston on 176-7 victory seemed assured. However not another run was scored and defeat was a bitter pill to swallow after dominating the majority of the game.
The Sirens have now finished their league season and what a splendid year they’ve had with six victories out of seven matches. They wait to see if they will qualify for the end of season play-offs. The Sunday XI lost to Rothley but the bright spot of the match was the two wickets taken by Ben Tebbutt. In doing so he became the first player to take 100 career wickets for the team. Syston won a nail biter against Leicester University Staff. Batting first Syston set a target of 174 with Tuschar Prafulchandra making 56 and Yash Patel 71 and then they bowled well to restrict LUS to 172-8 and victory by just two runs.
Roger Pole