Carlton travelled to an face an Ossett team off the back of 4 wins in a row which was going to be tough to extend this as Ossett had only lost 1 game previous to this fixture.
The conditions were scorching hot which would be a challenge for both the bat and ball.
Carlton lost the toss and were put in the field in the though conditions. Two great opening spells from Nick Busby (12-3-35-1) and Jonathan Rudge (15-1-76-6) meant that the Ossett top order had collapsed to 63-7. A good partnership between Matthew Varley and Paul Malone for Ossett brought them back into the game and dragged them back to 121-8. A good run out from young Charlie Dissanayaka brought them 9 down for 134 on a wicket that was deteriorating with the sun meaning that it was beginning to spin more and more. Carlton wrapped up the innings on 152 with a stunning first ball from Azim Alam hitting the top of the off stump.
Carlton set off their chase for Ossett to opening the bowling with a spinner on the wicket that was quickly getting worse to bat on. Early wickets meant that the middle order was exposed to the spin. Carlton we also reduced to 64-7 when captain Tom Taylor came to the crease to meet Dan Ford. Creeping gradually towards the target Tom and Dan began to build a partnership. Dan passed 50 before getting out LBW to take the score to 97-8 still requiring 56 runs to win with just 2 wickets left. Josh Thurwell came to the crease to meet his captain. Josh and Tom proceeded to take the attack to the bowlers putting Ossett under pressure from a position that they thought they were going to win the game from. In the 49th over Tom struck a 4 off his legs to tie the game before calmly running the ball down to third man for a single to win the game for his club. He finished with 31* hitting 2 x 6s and 3 x 4s, meanwhile Josh finished 24* hitting 2 x 4s and 1 x 6s, guiding Carlton home from a position which looked curious when wickets continued to fall.
This took extended Carltons winning streak to 5 games in a row as well as sending a message to the league by beating the team at the top.
Next weeks fixture is Keighley at home, can Carlton extend this winning run?
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