Memorable
Matches
Accrington v Enfield
June
1st 1963
In
1963, two years after winning the championship, Accrington were a team
in transition with a very inexperienced batting line up and a young
professional in Australian left arm spinner David Sincock.
On
June 1st, Accrington entertained local rivals Enfield in a game held
up for fifteen minutes due to the non arrival of one of the umpires.
Enfield won the toss and decided to bat on what was to prove a good
pitch.
Derek
Rushton and Neville Richardson were the opening bowlers for Accrington
with Eddie Slinger and Geoff Dixon topping the Enfield batting order.
Enfield got off to a good start with Slinger straight driving Rushton
to the boundary in the first over. Dixon was out shortly afterwards
trapped l.b.w. by Rushton's quicker ball. Ian Metcalfe scored a brisk
19 before playing across the line of a straight Rushton delivery.
Enfield's
West Indian professional Stayers was next man in and he was soon facing
his opposite number David Sincock. Derek Rushton struck again to dismiss
Stayers for 4 to have Enfield 48-3. Mike Ranson was next in to join
Slinger. Sincock's flight was posing problems for both batsmen and he
eventually had Slinger stumped by Jack Collier for 42. Eddie Robinson
came on to bowl and he dismissed Jack Charnley and Frank Drinkwater
in successive balls. Enfield eventually declared at 160-9 with Ranson
62 not out, having batted 2 and a half hours in all.
When
Derek Rushton and David Lloyd went out to bat, Accrington required 161
to win in just over 2 hours. Stayers first over cost seven runs but
he soon accounted for both Rushton and young Lloyd, beating them both
for pace. Sincock came and went quite quickly, dismissed by Drinkwater.
This brought 18 year-old Lindon Dewhurst and young David Taylor together.
Stayers
was bowling flat out with seven fielders behind the wicket giving the
youngsters a stern test of character. Gradually the bat got on top of
the ball, Taylor being the main scorer. The partnership was broken at
81 when Ranson induced Taylor to play across the line to trap him l.b.w.
When
captain Frank Rushton came in, 83 runs were needed in 40 minutes. When
Stayers returned for a second spell, Rushton and Dewhurst quickly got
on top of him. Rushton brought up the 100 with a four off the back foot
through the covers off Charnley leaving Accrington needing 61 to win
in 24 minutes. With 15 minutes to go, 45 runs were needed. Rushton then
hit Stayers for four fours off consecutive balls all around the ground.
This
left Accrington needing 20 to win off two overs. With one over left,
five runs were required to win. Stayers was the bowler and off his first
five balls, four runs were scored. One ball left, one run to win - the
batsmen scrambled home. Lindon Dewhurst had scored his maiden fifty
and skipper Frank Rushton had scored 45 runs in 24 minutes.
Scorecard
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