Dutch Invaders Snatch Pub Day Trophy
Syston Town C.C. held their annual Pub Day competition over the late Summer Bank Holiday weekend. Six teams competed for the trophy and the winners this year were Gelre C.C, a touring side from The Netherlands. In the final they defeated Beedles Lake, the winning run coming off the last ball of the match. The photo shows the trophy being presented to the winning team by club President David Fox. It was a splendid day enjoyed by all and even the sun managed to shine for a change.
The 1st XI were without a win in August. However, although they eventually lost to league leaders Kibworth they did give the champions elect a real fright. Syston batted first and posted a modest 145 thanks largely to Charlie Taylor who top scored with 49. Syston then bowled and fielded superbly and Kibworth were made to fight for every run. With the score at 112-7 the match was very much in the balance but Kibworth finally got home without further loss. Zahir Taher was the pick of the bowlers with 3-25.
The 2nd XI have also had a poor second half to the season and the match against Leicester Caribbean was particularly frustrating. In a rain affected game they were set a modest target of 95 in 22 overs. A slow start set them behind the rate and despite a well struck 29 not out from Yash Kapdi they fell just short on 91-7. A much needed win finally came against YMA. A solid batting performance saw Syston reach 222-7 with skipper Henry Whait leading by example with 56. YMA lost early wickets but some big hitting brought them back into the game before they were finally dismissed for 196 with Sachin Kalyan taking 4-61.
The Sunday XI lost two close games in a row. Against Barrow they posted 169-6 with Sahil Singh and Nitin Odedra both scoring 54 but Barrow got home to win by 4 wickets. They then bowled Oadby Royals out for 183 with father and son Dave and Ben Tebbutt sharing nine wickets between them. In reply Syston fell four runs short with Tuschar Prafulchandra and Sachin Kalyan both passing the forty mark. A win finally came against Rothley Park. In an excellent game of cricket, Syston set a challenging 225-5 with Nitin Odedra again top scoring with 54. Rothley fought hard but with Ewan Dealey taking 3-36 and Dave Tebbutt 3-35 they could only reach 203.
Roger Pole