FAMILY AFFAIR AS LANGLEY MILL MOVE SMOOTHLY TO THE FINAL

LANGLEY MILL UNITED 222 FOR 4 LULLINGTON PARK 221 FOR 9
MARSTONS SMOOTH TROPHY SEMI FINAL @ STATION ROAD
4 AUGUST 2019 --- 1230PM

A MATCH WINING 78 FROM THOMAS BRANDRICK FOR LANGLEY MILL

Langley Mill progressed to the Marston's Smooth Trophy final thanks to a fourth wicket stand of 123 from opener Thomas Brandrick [78] and George Brandrick [72*] after it was looking close at 23 for 2 and 83 for 3.  Lullington Park put up a valiant effort but in the end were around thirty runs short but a stoic 60 from opener William Arnold allowed them to 221 for 9 off their fifty overs.Weather set fair until 4pm in the forecast and the bull grabbed by the horns it was off along the short Northern
Rail journey from base station through Alfreton and departing at Langley Mill on the Derbyshire Nottinghamshire border, the town being in the former and situated between Heanor and Eastwood.  The current railway station is very, very basic with no display boards and bus shelter type accommodation, the platforms sit either side of the bridge spanning the busy A610 the south bound platform sitting to the north and the reverse for the northbound services.

LANGLEY MILL UNITED CRICKET CLUB PAVILION

Langley Mill won the day for choice of venues with a gentle five minute walk to the ground, a Coop more or less adjacent and within ten minutes of Macs, KFC, Greggs, Subway, Costa and an Asda superstore it could be described as a hoppers delight.
The town is a shadow of its former self much like any in this area from its former mill and canal days where it sees the merger of the Erewash, Cromford and Nottingham waterways.  Current days sees the nationally renowned bus company Trent Barton have its HQ here and recent news saw the development of a row of modern town house terraces were one of the houses front path ran right out into a bus shelter and a fence climbing exercise was required by the resident, still 'plans are plans governor'.
Langley Mill United Cricket Club have a arched gateway entrance from the A610 to the ground, although this was closed today, with the main entrance on Amber Drive.  Coming in by the pavilion to the right the ground is more or less surrounded by high conifer trees giving a retreat away from the busy main road and creating a little oasis away from the hurly-burly of cars and the nearby railway line.

MUZAMMIL GETS DOWN TO DEFEND AS LANGLEY MILL WATCH ON

Changing rooms are on the top deck with grounds mans store room and bar area below its of functional build with 'LMUCC' emblazoned in brick on the entrance side of the building.
Its a tight ground with ample amount of bench and dedicated seats around the boundary to allow different viewing positions including a mini banked area on the pavilion side.  The grass beyond the boundary was being cut by the grounds man when I arrived and the whole area including wicket looked well cared for.  Their appeared an active bar with teas and coffees and food should you require.
Lullington Park Cricket Club sits in the small hamlet of Lullington one of the southern most villages in Derbyshire with the side sitting well south of Burton, in Staffordshire.  The visitors are situated in fourth place in league one and Langley Mill reside one place above them so all looked set for the close game we were to witness.

WILLIAM ARNOLD TOP SCORES FOR THE VISITORS

Lullington won the toss and elected to bat but lost overseas player Abdul Muzammil [22] and Alex Cooper [4] and were ambling along at 68 for 2.  Peter Wright [19] and Luke Jenkinson left opener Arnold and by the time he too was dismissed with the score at 129 he had patiently built a personal score of 60 from 86 balls.  The innings was in danger of imploding but an excellent stand of 70 between Joe Collier [37] and Tom Jones [21] took the score, sharply at times, onto 199 for 7.  Tom Fern, James Whiteland and Craig Hill all contributed in single figures to get the visitors up to 221 for 9 in their allotted fifty overs.  For The Mill Jamie Salmons returned 4 for 53 in ten overs with the ever youthful ex DCCC spinner Simon Lacey producing an economical 2 for 18 in ten overs.
Tea break was undertaken with a Trent Barton Rainbow One service to Macs who had no ice cream so over the way to KFC and with a return service getting me back during the second over the reply was just underway.

JAY HOLMES FLYING IN FOR THE MILL

James Heafield for a duck and Lewis Pinder [7], run out going for a sharp second, saw the home side wobbling a little at 23 for 2.  When Salmons was bowled by Joe Collier with the score on 83 the run rate was around where it needed to be if the rains came, when it did a light shower took us off for just fifteen minutes and it was time for the Brandrick's to guide Langley Mill to victory with a century stand.

LEWIS PINDER IN CLASSIC CRICKET POSE

When it looked like both Thomas and George would be there to guide the club over the line opener Thomas holed out on the boundary caught by Joe Collier off the bowling of Peter Wright, his 78 had come off 107 balls including eleven fours and was the patient builder that Arnold had provided for the visitors.  Mathew Heafield came in to secure 13 and gain victory with 3 late fours and allow Langley Mill home with seven overs to spare.  The returning applause went to George Brandrick [72*] also with eleven fours and in just 75 balls he had provided the impetus to move this game away from Lullington Park in the second part of the innings.

JAMIE SALMONS IN FULL SWING MODE

Walking away from Station Rd I enjoyed the pleasant change of attitudes from yesterdays football and had the weather not have ben so poor this summer realised this is what I needed some more of an excellent game, well played to both sides.  It was a pleasure to catch up with a few people I knew and also make new acquaintances including a lady from Lullington Park whose husband was scoring and son playing.

TWO MAN OPERATED MANUAL SCORE BOARD AFTER A MALFUNCTION OF THE ELECTRONIC VARIETY

Langley Mill CC ground was selected at the start of the season to stage the final so they will be at 'home' on bank holiday Monday against Alrewas who overcame Spondon in the other semi final and hopefully I might just be back.
The briefest of walks back to the station secured the 7.37 for a twenty minute return to Chesterfield were it was and apparently had been lashing it down since about 5pm, how fortunate we had been today to complete an intriguing game of cricket just a few miles down the road.