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Seasons Top Performances
2007
OWSLEBURY BOWLER ON
THE MARK WITH ALL TEN WICKETS
by Mike Vimpany
Jim
Laker did it against the Australians at
Old Trafford in 1956 and Anil Kumble for India against
Pakistan in 1999 …
Taking all ten wickets in an innings is
the stuff bowlers’ dreams are made of.
For 29-year old
Owslebury medium-paceman Mark
McLeonards (pictured) the ten-wicket dream
came true in the evening session of Saturday’s Hampshire League match
against Penton.
He took all ten
Penton wickets at a personal cost of 19 runs and led his side
to an emphatic 168-run Regional Division 1 North victory.
McLeonards
clean bowled five Penton batsmen, had four
others caught and trapped another leg before wicket.
Ironically,
McLeonards hadn’t taken a single wicket in either of
Owslebury’s two previous league matches.
“It got to the point that I told my
girlfriend that, if I didn’t take a wicket against
Penton, I’d probably pack up playing for
the season,” he laughed.
Penton,
already chasing a daunting 222-8 in 42 overs,
probably wished McLeonards had stuck to
his word !
He grabbed a wicket with his very first
ball after tea and by the end of his second over, with the visitors
reeling at 1-3, had two more Penton scalps
under his belt.
McLeonards,
who has played for Owslebury since he was
aged 14 years, took his fourth wicket with the last ball of his third
over (Penton now 2-4).
And, after sending down two leg-side
wides, grabbed two more victims in his
fourth over to have the Andover club reeling at 10-6.
Although Dave Rolls,
Penton’s number three batsmen, proved
impossible to shift from the crease, there was no stopping
McLeonards, who got a seventh wicket in
his fifth over.
But then came a three-over lull in the
wicket carnage – and McLeonards confessed
he became a little worried that he might not get all ten.
“We could get their number three batsman
– and never did – but their opening bowler came in at nine and hung
around for what seemed an eternity in the context of what was going
on,” Mark said.
“I eventually got him caught at gully –
a fine one-handed stretching catch – but then this guy came in at ten
and flogged me for three successive fours.”
But the end wasn’t long coming and, with
the first two balls of his tenth over, McLeonards
cleaned up the Penton innings for 54.
It left the
Owslebury bowler with stunning figures of 9.2
overs, two maidens, ten wickets for 19
runs.
“The best I’d ever achieved previously
was a five-wicket haul,” said McLeonards,
who is only the fourth bowler in Hampshire League history to take all
ten wickets in an innings.
Colin Beer (Oliver's Battery) did it in
1984, three years after Dave Eggbear (Thatcham)
and Purbrook’s Bob Jenkins had achieved
the feat in 1981.
McLeonards
admitted his post-match celebrations weren’t exactly quiet.
“I put away a few pints of Guinness
afterwards, let’s put it that way,” he laughed.
He wasn’t the only
Owslebury cricketer celebrating – Robert Harris hit 93 and
secretary Stuart Mudge 59 at the top of
the 222-8.
Scorecard
Owslebury
222-8 (Harris 93, Mudge 59)
Penton
M Ling c Brown b
McLeonards 0
M Vince b
McLeonards 1
D Rolls not
out 24
A Twycross
lbw McLeonards
0
I Hares c S
McLeonards b M McLeonards 3
S Hares b
McLeonards 0
A Wright b
McLeonards 0
M Hodgson c Brown b
McLeonards 0
A Mills c Woods b
McLeonards 2
M Winchester b
McLeonards 12
T Plaskett
b McLeonards 0
Extras
12
---
Total (all
out) 54
Fall: 0, 1, 1, 4, 8, 10, 17, 42, 54, 54.
Bowling: M
McLeonards 9.2-2-19-10
D Cooper 6-0-23-0
J Dennis 3-0-10-0
Owslebury
won by 168 runs.
Mike Vimpany
01329 310256
07899 711116
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regional Division 1
North.
Penton 211-4
Littleton & West Hill 345-1
Despite only having 10
men, Littleton had a record breaking day. Batting first, 32 runs
(all boundaries) were on the board after 4 overs. Dave Guy then
fell for 22 introducing debutant Oli Sheldrake to join the ever
reliable Nigel Dibben. From then on it was carnage. Both batsman
reached their fifties, and the 100 and 200 partnerships were
passed. All the bowlers were treated with contempt (A.Mills 1-75
and S.Hares 0-95) before Sheldrake completed his century first. Not
long after, Dibben followed suit. In the final over of the game, 19
runs were scored with Sheldrake (156no) and Dibben (121no)
completing an unbroken partnership of 305 off 260 balls.
In reply Penton proved the quality of the
track and made the bowling attack toil for any success. Having
been reduced to 121-4 (Nigel Louth 2-52), opener Mickey Ling was
joined A.Twycross. They both defied the attack, and put on an
unbeaten partnership of 90. Ling, who you would never know was
61, carried his bat for 88no, while Twycross finished on 51no, and
ensured maximum batting points.
This
was a Club record league score, a record individual score, and a
record partnership. It is also believed to be a record Hampshire
League partnership for the North 1 Division.
Report
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