Match 6 v England Over 60s at New Rover CC Richmond Oval, Adel in Leeds on 19 August – 50 over match

The first official Test match between Australia and England proved a one-sided affair with the English players dominant against the tourists struggling with fitness and clearly less prepared to compete against a professional outfit, disciplined with both bat and ball.

That the Spitfire Over 60s League has established a competitive national player group who are able to play regularly in their age bracket on excellent turf wickets and provide an environment to encourage veteran cricketers to remain in the game well beyond the days of competitive grade or club cricket compared to the ad hoc progress of Over 60s cricket in Australia emphasized the gap between the teams.

Opting to bat in excellent conditions at the New Rover CC oval England cautiously progressed after the openers were dismissed with 45 on the board.  Alas success would not reward the Australians again until the 46^th over when an outstanding third wicket partnership of 204 between century-maker Bob Eames and Ray Swann was broken by the hard working medium-pacer Arthur Pritchard.  Swann would eventually be dismissed on the final ball of the innings, well caught by Ken Last at mid off for an excellent 99 (8x4; 1x6) off 87 balls.  Eames’s innings was scored from 142 balls and included 15x4s.  The team total of 284/4 was an imposing score for any team to chase.

The Australian cause was not assisted by injuries to key bowlers Colin Cooke, Brian Breakespeare and Alan Reid while fielding.

Australia was in trouble early against consistent pace from Kevan Pritchard and Richard Powelll and crashed to 32/5 with keeper Richard Owen brilliantly stumping key strikers Ross Chapman and Brian Breakspeare.  He superbly backed up the spinning pair of Phil Taylor and Kevin Pratt and it wasn’t until Ken Last joined John Bell after the fall of the seventh wicket at 63 that there was any resemblance of an Australian fight-back on offer.

Bell and Last added 83 in quick time before Owen claimed his fourth dismissal leaving Bell to bat out the remaining overs.  Last’s innings of 38 (7x4s) off 44 balls in 55 minutes.  Bell was defiant with an innings of 58* (11x4s) scored from 141 balls in 149 minutes.

England Innings

R Newman	c Fraser b Pritchard	26
M Rawlings	run out	5
R Eames	bowled Pritchard	109
R Swann	c Last b Pritchard	99
K Daniels	not out	16
Did not bat R Ogden R Powell P Taylor R Owen K Anderson K Pratt
Sundries		29
TOTAL		284/4

C Cooke	6	0	27	0
R Axelby	8	1	23	0
A Pritchard	10	0	58	3
B Breakspeare	2	0	12	0
D Axelby	7	0	36	0
I Fraser	5	0	27	0
K Last	2	0	16	0
R Agg	8	0	59	0
J Bell	2	0	18	0

Australia Innings
R Agg bowled Anderson 9 A Pritchard c Rawlings b Powell 8 J Bell not out 58 R Chapman st Owen b Anderson 5 B Breakspeare st Owen b Anderson 4 I Fraser st Owen b Powell 1 A Reid bowled Pratt 2 D Axelby bowled Pratt 5 K Last st Owen b Swann 38 D Truman not out 2 Did Not Bat R Axelby Sundries 17 TOTAL 149/8 K Anderson 10 4 41 3 R Powell 10 5 27 2 P Taylor 10 5 16 0 K Pratt 10 4 15 2 K Daniels 8 0 35 0 R Swann 2 1 1 1 Fall of Wicket: England 9, 45, 249, 284 Australia 18, 18, 27, 31, 32, 45, 63, 146 England won by 135 runs