Aces pull a 3 card trick over top 3 sides

CAPTAIN Craig Cook:  pic via MEN.co.uk

WOLVERHAMPTON WOLVES   42  -  48   BELLE VUE ACES 

It was a Captain`s performance that saw the Belle Vue Aces on Bank Holiday Monday carry on their recent winning streak, With the Aces taking it 4 matches unbeaten home & away, as they beat the Wolverhampton Wolves 48-42 at Monmore Green without their two big hitter`s scoring 2 between them!

The Aces in recent weeks have seen them beat fellow struggler`s in the Elite League the Coventry Bees 59-35 along with victory over the league leaders the Birmingham Brummies at home 49-41 then followed it up with a win at the home of the current league champions,the Swindon Robins 48-42.

Belle Vue have been riding more for pride than anything, while their opponents they have defeat in the last two outings, have battled it out for the top 2 places in the table that guarantees home advantage come playoff time. 

In the Bank Holiday meeting at Wolverhampton things didn`t start off the way the Aces would have liked it to. As Wolves Swedish Number 1 star, Freddie Lindgren was joined at the front by his team mate in Polish rider Robert Miskowiak for a opening maximum 5-1 win for the Wolves.

Belle Vue`s guest pairing at reserve in place of the injured Ales Dryml & Kauko Nieminen ,were Andrew Tully from the Newcastle Diamonds and rising Australian youngster Max Fricke from the Edinburgh Monarchs both from Premier League clubs. However they were more than Premier the way they rode as with Cook in the side they helped the Aces massively in the match, with them scoring a 4-2 in the reserves race for the Aces, with the Scottish rider Andrew Tully picking up victory.

Belle Vue nearly got on level terms in heat 3, when Aces Captain Craig Cook and Kevin Wolbert both got out of the gates on a 4-2 advantage, only for Wolbert to then have an engine failure on the first lap and led to him retiring in the race , but Cook held on to first place beating Adam Skornicki and Ricky Wells for a 3-3.

Heat 4 saw a huge crash and involving all the riders on the first bend , with Fricke and Thorssell getting tangled together and taking the rest of the field down too, in Tai Woffinden & Magnus Zetterstrom in the race.

Thorssell picked up a suspected broken arm in the crash and saw him withdrawn from the meeting and being replaced by fellow reserve Ludwig Lindgren in the re-run.  

Zetterstrom was struggling to ride too after the crash and he pulled out after only one lap in, with the Wolves taking a 4-2 heat win and increase their lead to 4 points, with the score 14-10 in favour of the Black Country side.

With the next four races being shared between the sides, the score line was 26-22  for the home side heading into Heat 9.

Max Fricke came in to replace the now Withdrawn Magnus Zetterstrom from the meeting, as Zorro had picked up a shoulder injury in the collision.

It was the reserve pairing of Fricke & Tully that drawn the scores level at 27 all, with the scot forcing his way past the Wolves pair to see him join his team mate at the front for a big 5-1 for the away side.

Belle Vue then scored another big maximum win, with Craig Cook and Kevin Wolbert grabbing first and second position beating as they beat "Fast Freddie" Lindgren round the Monmore track, not many can say they have done that over the years. 

The Wolves though responded in kind, with Woffinden and Lindgren`s brother Ludwig getting a 5-1 over Ostergaard and Zagar in following race, to level the score up one more time in this sea-saw match.

Andrew Tully was enjoying himself on the Wolves track as he and Cook helped edge the Aces back in front with 4-2in heat 12 to make it 40-38. Heat thirteen saw the strong pairing for the home side in the way of Tai Woffinden & Freddie Lindgren, up against the Aces of Matej Zagar and Andrew Tully.

Lindgren wasn`t going to lose twice in a row, as the Swede shown the Belle Vue boys a clean pair of heels, with the Swedish GP star zooming off for a shared 3-3 race.

Wolves needed to get a result out of heat 14, if they were to have any chance of beating Belle Vue and avoid defeat. However this was to be Belle Vue`s night and the German rider Kevin Wolbert and Max Fricke combined to hammer home advantage and shock the Wolves fans into silence, as they crossed the line in 1^st & 2^nd for a third 5-1 of the night for the travelling Aces and gave the Manchester club victory with a heat left to go. 

It was the Captain that would have final say in the match, when Craig Cook finished off the Wolves showing Woffinden and Lindgren round the Monmore Green circuit, as he took the chequered flag for a 3-3 race and made the final score 48-42 in the Belle Vue Aces favour and gave moved them off the foot of the table and up into 8^th position.

Wolverhampton will get a chance at revenge very quickly, as they travel up the M6 motorway to Kirkmanshulme Lane next Monday evening.

Wolverhampton Wolves = 42 

1. Freddie Lindgren -3, 3, 1, 3, 1* - 11+1
2. Robert Miskowiak - 2*, 0, 0, 0 - 2+1
3. Ricky Wells - 1*, 3, 1, 2 - 7+1
4. Adam Skornicki - 2, F, 0, 1 - 3
5. Tai Woffinden - 3, 2, 3, 0, 2 - 10
6. Ludvig Lindgren - F, 1, 1*, 3, 2*, 0, 0 - 7+2
7. Jacob Thorssell - 2, F-Withdrawn





Belle Vue Aces = 48 

1. Matej Zagar - 0, 1*, 0, 1* - 2+1
2. Ulrich Ostergaard - 1, 2, 1*, 1 - 4+1
3. Craig Cook - 3, 3, 3, 1, 3 - 13
4. Kevin Wolbert - EF, 0, 2, 3 - 5
5. Magnus Zetterstrom - EF, Withdrawn
6. Andrew Tully (Guest) - 3, 2, 2*, 3, 2, 0 12+1
7. Max Fricke (Guest) - 1, 2, 1*, 2, 3, 2* - 11+2

LEAGUE TABLE:

                                             PLD      PTS

1. Birmingham Brummies      25         53

2. Swindon Robins                26         48

3. Wolverhampton Wolves    26         48

4. Lakeside Hammers            25         43

5. Poole Pirates                     25         39

6. Peterborough Panthers     25         38                     

7. Kings Lynn Stars             24          33

8. Belle Vue Aces                 24          31*

9. Eastbourne Eagle             25          29 

10. Coventry Bees                27          28

*=Belle vue deducted 3pts after SCB hearing.

Eagles claw past Lightning into Semi`s

CENTURY MAN:   RAVI BOPARA    pic:Essexeagles.co.uk

Lancashire Lightning saw their YB40 dreams destroyed by Essex Eagles pairing of Ravi Bopara and Greg Smith, as the two of them smashed the home bowlers all over the Emirates Old Trafford. Essex beat Lancashire by 70 runs and in doing so, saw them finish ahead of the Lightning in 2nd place, booking their place in the Semi-finals of the competition on Bank Holiday Monday.

                                                                                                          

Essex team Captain James Foster won the toss and chose to bat first, on a warm summer`s day in Manchester.

Lancashire had beaten the Hampshire Hawks last Tuesday to have a chance of qualification, as they only needed victory on their home ground to see them through to the Semi-Final stages behind Hampshire, who had all but booked their place in the YB40 Semi`s already.

Lancashire made an early breakthrough in the Essex Innings, when Kabir Ali got Gautam Gambhir out thanks to Ashwell Prince taking a blinding catch at Short-mid off to send Gambhir packing for 2. 

This then saw Ravi Bopara come out to the middle alongside Greg Smith and between them, they put on a partnership of 159. The Lancashire Lightning bowlers toiled in the heat as Bopara and Smith continued to dismantled the bowling attack, despite Smith nearly getting out for 58 when a Tom Smith dived full stretch to only get a finger on it as  it run away to the rope for four.  

Simon Kerrigan returned to the Lancashire line-up, after his torrid week for England down at the Oval against Australia in the Fifth test.

When Kerrigan`s name came over the PA system at Old Trafford, it was greeted by a massive cheer and applause by the home fans as they shown their support to the spinner, who by many was unfairly criticised by the media over his 2 over bowling spell in the Ashes match.

Kerrigan managed to pick up a wicket in his seven over spell, when the Preston-born spinner dismissed Greg Smith for 78 when he got one to go past the advancing Smith down the pitch and Gareth Cross managed to collect the ball and whip the bails off.

Smith made a good knock for his side, as well as a good partnership with Ravi Bopara as between them they build up a very good Innings for the away side. 

The South African struck four 4`s and a solitary 6 in his Innings, as he faced 77 balls with the Eagles on 160–2.

Ex-England batsman Owais Shah then came to partner Bopara out in the middle and Shah played a steady knock for his side as he struck a 6 off the bowling of Aaron Lilley in his Innings.

Shah then tried to hit one to the on-side boundary off the bowling of Tom Smith, but instead he saw it go up in the air and fall into the hands of Aaron Lilley to send the ex-England batsman back for 21. 

Essex were 200-3 with Shah departing and they had built up a very commanding lead to be fair that gave Essex a terrific score with still 9 overs remaining.

Ravi Bopara then turned away a delivery to the off side as he run a couple to reach his Century and it was a very well worked Innings too. His team mate

Dutchman Ryan ten Doeschate came in, he fired a score of 46 not out with two 4`s and three massive 6`s around the Emirates Old Trafford stands in his stand.

Ravi Bopara was almost out when Tom Smith made a spectacular one handed catch attempt that saw Smith get fingertips to it, but couldn`t stop the ball running away for 4 .

Bopara Innings came to an end, when Kyle Hogg slow delivery was lofted high and Lilley took the catch at backward point to get rid of the Essex danger man,  which saw him walk back to a Essex changing room to a standing ovation by the Lancastrian crowd as he went for 130 off 102 balls, with nine 4`s and three 6`s to his name.

Captain of the Eagles James Foster came out to bat the remaining overs with Ten Doeschate, as the of them finished the Innings off scoring 297 with Foster scoring 8 runs not out and Ten Doeschate for 46 unbeaten as well. 

Lancashire`s seemed under par with a couple of mistakes occurring in the field and the zip of pace they had at the start of the game, seemed to fade quickly as they looked tired and the pitch was unresponsive for Lancashire bowlers too.

The Essex batsmen made Lancashire pay with under average bowling as they set their hosts a target of 298 for victory in this YB40 match.

Lancashire had their target set of 298 for victory and would see them through to the next round should they reach the target.

Lancashire Lightning`s openers had to survive a couple of scares as Tom Smith edged from Tymal Mills quick delivery and went for the first boundary for of the run chase. Stephen Moore then went for a hook shot that nicked the bat and went high over Foster with the gloves for a second boundary, Smith then took a crack on the helmet from a fast Mills delivery that saw Smith needing a new helmet because of it.

TOM SMITH : Via :LCCC.co.uk

Stephen Moore and Tom Smith made a quick partnership of 79 for the opening stand. Moore was first to go when an attempted hook shot was top edged by him and went up in the air towards long leg position, where Graham Napier took a diving catch to get him out for 29 having scored three 4`s and one 6 in his knock.

Smith was dropped by Foster when he got an edge on it from Topley bowling after he got his fifty. Ashwell Prince played a nervy Innings, as the South African batsman didn`t look assured of himself out in the middle. Prince was out soon after when he tried to late cut a ball off Reece Topley, but instead saw his wickets demolished as he went for 5 and Lancashire were 91 for 2.

The Lightning were far from that between the wickets with indecision between the batsmen wanting to run more than one run, the locals were not very happy at the tactics used by the home side at all as they were falling behind the run rate required in the Innings. 

eMIRAT

Tom Smith was creeping his way to a Century of his own, while his team mate Paul Horton was nearing his fifty too. Both batsmen`s were scoring at a very slow rate with the required rate at 8.0-8.4 an over, with the Lightning hovering around the 6.4-6.6 area and not helping their cause either. 

Smith got to 97 before Reece Topley clean bowled the Lancs man and he couldn`t hide his disappointment at failing to make his hundred as the pain was etched on his face.

The home side were in a bit of bother at 186-3 and were struggling to make the boundary or hit a big score in their run chase, as they were unable to up their run rate in the Innings.

Phil Horton too failed on reaching his milestone as he tried to take the attack to the Eagles, but Horton attempted to slog down the ground and was caught out by Century man Ravi Bopara as that signalled the Lightning collapse with Tom Phillips picking up a wicket with Horton going for 45.

The Lightning found themselves 193-4 and still needing 105 with 70 balls remaining in the Lancashire Innings. Steven Croft and Karl Brown found themselves in position of having to find these 105 runs required, with a 9.4 run rate needed to get close to the target, which was a tough ask for them. 

Steven Croft tried to smash one away, but like the other rest of the Lancashire batsmen they couldn`t find the rope or get good enough connect on the ball. Croft skied it up and Greg Smith took the catch off Phillips bowling dismissing the Lightning batsman for 9.

Phillips collected his 3^rd wicket soon after, when Brown managed to connect on one but went only as far as Napier and Lancashire went deep in trouble now having gone from 182-2 to now 214-6.

Aaron Lilley went for a duck as he tried to smashed a delivery off Phillips bowling, with the Lightning needing big boundaries now, but he found Ravi Bopara at long-off and the end was nigh now for the Lightning run chase.

Gareth Cross was caught at cover point when he hit one right up into the Manchester sky off Tymal Mills bowling and Gautam Gambhir caught him out for 7 after he juggled the ball & much to his relief managed to hold on. With already many members of the Lightning faithful on their way to the exits, Kabir Ali and Kyle Hogg put on a bit of resistance for a few balls.

That was before Mills steamed in again and sent Hogg stumps flying out the ground for 2, making it 222-9, and had all but consigned Lancashire Lightning to the fate of missing out on the semi finals with Essex taking their spot.

Phillips completed his 5-fer when he got Simon Kerrigan out for a duck too, with Kerrigan hitting it to Mills at backward point and give Essex a win by a 70 runs, as Lancashire were bowled out for 227 in reply after 36.4 overs.

Disappointing end to their YB40 campaign for the Lightning as they now

Look ahead to the upcoming fixture against Hampshire in the LV Championship round at Southport as they look to carry on their promotion charge by to the Division 1.

Gambhir dismissal link: 

Essex Innings297 for 4 (40.0 overs)

			Runs	Minutes	Balls	4s	6s
Gambhir	c Prince	b Ali	2	10	9	0	0
Smith	st Cross	b Kerrigan	78	86	77	4	1
Bopara	c Lilley	b Hogg	130	120	102	9	3
Shah	c Lilley	b Smith	21	20	21	0	1
ten Doeschate	not out		46	40	23	2	3
Foster	not out		8	16	8	0	0
Extras		0nb 9w 0b 3lb	12
Total		for 4	297	(40.0 ovs)

LANCASHIRE BOWLING:

Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Ali	7.0	0	49	1
Smith	7.0	0	59	1
Hogg	7.0	0	55	1
Kerrigan	8.0	0	45	1
Lilley	8.0	0	51	0
Croft	3.0	0	35	0

Lancashire Innings227 all out (36.4 overs)

			Runs	Minutes	Balls	4s	6s
Moore	c Napier	b Topley	29	50	31	3	1
Smith		b Topley	97	119	84	11	0
Prince		b Topley	5	13	10	0	0
Horton	c Bopara	b Phillips	45	62	53	2	0
Brown	c Napier	b Phillips	12	25	13	1	0
Croft	c Smith	b Phillips	9	9	11	1	0
Cross	c Gambhir	b Mills	7	13	9	1	0
Lilley	c Bopara	b Phillips	0	2	2	0	0
Ali	not out		5	10	2	0	0
Hogg		b Mills	2	2	4	0	0
Kerrigan	c Mills	b Phillips	0	3	2	0	0
Extras		2nb 8w 0b 6lb	16
Total		all out	227	(36.4 ovs)

ESSEX BOWLING:

Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Masters	8.0	0	48	0
Mills	6.0	0	35	2
Napier	2.0	0	22	0
Topley	5.0	0	27	3
Smith	6.0	0	34	0
ten Doeschate	2.0	0	13	0
Phillips	7.4	0	42	5