Melbourne Open with a Win

Melbourne 129 all out
Thixendale 107 all out
York Vale CL Division 3
Saturday 26th April 2008

Melbourne's batting was held together by Malcolm Harrison with a stolid and undefeated 32. He survived a decent opening with Will Nicholson, a dreadful middle order collapse, and the fightback from the tail led by Brian Underwood with a feisty 21. Tyler (5 for 47) and Wigby (4 for 44) bowled the majority of the overs for Thixendale and were rewarded with the majority of the wickets.
At tea Melbourne’s total of 129 looked high enough to cause trouble, but still easily within reach.
Shaw hit some powerful shots in reply for Thixendale, and had some luck thanks to poor catching; it looked bad for Melbourne; Will Nicholson dropped a skyer from Shaw and lost his fingertip taking the side down to 10, but Gary Coe pulled on his sweater, and Melbourne fought back with wickets from Underwood (3 for 42) and a good run out from James Marshall. Martin Kidd removed French for a golden duck and then Thixendale collapsed to 62 for 8. Thixendale weren’t finished though, and the match swung again as Harrison and England put on another 40 and looked like going past Melbourne’s total before Kidd (who ended on 5 for 27) removed them to win the Match.
The teams then went on to refresh themselves in the comfortable and relaxed atmosphere of the Melbourne Arms, who were this week’s Match Ball sponsors.