Pock 3s, sponsored by Stamford’s were at home on Saturday, looking to, at the very least take some points from a very strong league-leading Drax side.

Keen to take the game to Drax, skipper Wes Smith won the toss and elected to bat on what looked a good wicket for both batters and bowlers.

As expected, the Drax opening bowlers started well, the pitch offering the bowler that hit a line and length.
However Pocks openers, Joe Wilson (14) and Wes Smith got off to a good start putting on 40 for the first wicket.
In came Adam Tolley and was in no mood to sit and be bowled at, scoring freely throughout his innings. The partnership with skipper smith reached the 100 mark in as many balls and Drax were clearly rattled.

Tolley made 67 off just 63 balls before eventually being caught at mid-wicket but had done plenty of damage. Smith then fell for 79 off 81 balls but in came Pock powerhouse Elliott Morrell to blast 34 off just 35 balls inching the total to a very respectable 227.

The 3s ran Drax ragged in the field forcing error after error in a lacklustre display by their own admission.

A fantastic tea was then taken, hats off to Wolds tea rooms once again. Our scorer enjoyed it so much they were late back! a trend set by our very own Gary Wilson.

Onto the Drax chase! A solid opening spell from Geoff ‘woo-woo’ Woodward (proving age is just a number) and Josh Fiorentini saw us extremely unlucky to not take several early wickets, however, Drax were contained and under a lot of pressure.
The breakthroughs did then come, Geoff removing both openers finishing a good spell , 2-49 off his 10.
By this point Pocklington were in the ascendency, although were always wary of the fact that the Drax side batted to number 11.
Then just as Drax were gaining momentum the skipper turned to young Sam Thompson in the hope of snatching a couple more wickets. He didn’t disappoint bowling very well for his figures of 3-42 off 7 overs.

Things then became tight as Drax needed a run a ball from the last 10 overs. Apie Pieterse and Josh Fiorentini sharing the overs and they showed themselves to be very competent under pressure.
Josh ending unlucky to be wicketless and Apie taking 2 wickets from his 4 overs spell.
The fielding standards remained high, Sam T, Harry Pieterse, Adam Tolley, Apie Pieterse and Matt Smith sweeping, all stand out performers.
Ultimately, Drax won out with an over to spare. They’re a side that wouldn’t look out of place in Div 2 so the 3s have to be thrilled with the performance.
The 3s would beat every other side in that league playing that way, a fantastic team performance and they should be proud of themselves.

So, hoping to take that momentum forward, the back pitch plays host to Thorpe Arch next Saturday in what promises to be another competitive game of cricket ?

Thank you to our own Dave Fairhurst for umpiring and Tamsin for scoring the game.