Veteran Foxton proves that dreams can come true

The romance of cricket was alive at Mille Crux, where the hopelessly-outclassed Rowntrees players joined in the applause for Malton's John Foxton, who made his first century in a 36-year career.

Foxton, 49, unleashed a fine array of shots, culminating in a lengthy blow to long-on, which was caught by Peter Topping. The Rowntrees fielder indicated he was over the boundary line, and the resulting six took Foxton to his first-ever century. His dismissal off the very next delivery brought about a Malton declaration in the middle of the 39th over.

Earlier, Foxton and Dave Bradshaw put on 112. Bradshaw missed out on his ton when he rashly danced down the wicket after making 85 and was stumped. Chris Smith added runs with a cameo 26 until he was unluckily run out.

Rowntrees made a hapless start, as Shane Bonser took 3 for 8, with five wickets falling for 11 runs. Dave Bradshaw (3 for 13) took out the tail as Rowntrees crashed to defeat. Malton picked up a maximum 30 points.

Division Two

Malton and Old Malton 189 for 9

Studley Royal 168 for 8

Batting first after losing the toss, Greg Johnson (40) and Ben Nicholson (62) batted the home side into a good postion.

After Johnson was bowled, Malton suffered a mini-collapse, losing three wickets for 25 runs. Andy Tyres was put in to give the innings a kick-start and he responded with a quick-fire 29. Danny Foxton (19) made sure Malton got over the 180 mark.

Studley lost a wicket early on, as Wayne Dawson claimed an lbw victim. Anthony Mackie and Richard Smith steadied the ship before the latter was bowled by Mark Yates, who claimed three wickets. Danny Foxton then had Mackie caught by Jonny Dunning.

As Studley looked to mount a challenge, Steve Oldfield grabbed an important wicket in his one over and then Tony Linsley bagged two wickets in one over to put the brakes on. Studley batted out the remaining overs to survive for a losing draw.

Updated: 09:13 Wednesday, July 24, 2002