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SBCI 2022 – June 2022 review
June was dominated, sadly by the passing of much-loved player and member, Andrew Boocock.
A tribute to Andrew can be read here https://sbcicc.co.uk/blog/andrew-boocock
On the field, we’re nearly halfway into the Senior season with the Second XI top of the table. The junior season continues at pace with around 5/6 rounds of matches left of the Under 9/11 and 13 seasons.
Senior Cricket
1st Team
June was yet another month of mixed fortunes for the 1st XI as we won two and lost two games, but it was definitely a case of ‘what might have been’ as we failed to chase two relatively low scores.
We started out at neighbours Sowerby Bridge and were more than happy to restrict our opposition to 134 all out, Bridge having won the toss and chosen to bat. Olly Benson and Lewis Firth took four wickets apiece and Tom Wood chipped in with the other two, as we took wickets at regular intervals. However, wickets fell quickly in our chase, including a number of LBWs and a hat-trick. When Tom Wood was eighth man out for exactly 50, the writing was on the wall and sure enough we were bowled out for just 88, a 46 run defeat.
We quickly put a disappointing start to the month behind us as Mytholmroyd visited The Astleys – four wickets for Olly and four for Alex Scholefield, aided by two well-executed run outs, left ‘Royd 55 all out in 20.3 overs. At 21 for 3 and with the previous week’s collapse fresh in the memory, we could have been forgiven for having a few nerves, but Sam Hinchliffe and Arun CK showed none, and saw us over the line for no further loss.
Next up was a trip to Great Horton Park Chapel, and with the shocking news of our friend and clubmate Andrew ‘Booey’ Boocock’s passing the previous day, we wore black armbands and observed a minute’s silence. Skipper Simon Wood won the toss and chose to bowl, and Alex made it look like a good decision by taking first three wickets to fall, leaving our hosts 46 for 3. Despite a few late wickets, we weren’t at our best in the field and Great Horton got to what looked like it might be a challenging 185 for 8.
Adam Fawcett and Alex were more than up to that challenge though, as they were pretty much chanceless in taking us to the win. Alex scored a ruthless 109* off 117 balls, impeccably supported by Adam’s 66*. A good win on a sad weekend for the club.
The day after, we took a side which was inexperienced at 1st XI level to compete in the new T20 group format, against Illingworth and Mytholmroyd, with the latter hosting. There were creditable performances despite us playing against two near enough full-strength 1st XIs, who have both won the Premier Division in recent seasons. Though it was a challenging day, the lads didn’t shirk from it and fought all the way through, though both games did end in comfortable defeats.
Back to the league, and we rounded off the month at home to Thornton, with a handful of dropped catches stopping a good effort in the field from being a great one. We bowled Thornton out for 162, which would prove to be an agonising 7 runs too many. Alex had got us on our way with two early wickets, clean bowling their opener and number 3, the latter of whom offered no shot. Olly (3 for 24) and Lewis (3 for 43) were also in the wickets and on a pitch which didn’t have too many tricks in it, we were content with the score at half way. At 64 for 6 in reply, the win looked a long way off but Simon, Rishav Tandon and Dan Sykes’s efforts dragged us close and set up a tense finale. Dan and Harry West came together needing 22 to win and had got 15 of them when Harry was adjudged LBW to end a cracking game of cricket (for the neutral at least).
Overall, 31 points out of a possible 48 was far from disastrous but was disappointing as we got ourselves in a position to have won each of the four games. A trip to Illingworth on Saturday rounds off the first half of the season before we host Luddendenfoot on the 9th July.
2nd Team
It’s three wins out of four in June for the second team who hit the top of the league table this month and have stayed there ever since. Each of the three wins has been with maximum points. We can’t really publish what we think of the reverse at home to Mytholmroyd, so we’ll leave that parked right there.
Shelf/ Northowram HT were blown away by Simon Hampshire who took 8 for 28 in the first match of the month. Greeny and Keasty then saw us over the line with 18 and 26 not out, respectively to see us over the line after we’d lost four early wickets in pursuit of 84. 12 points.
A week later, different opposition- 12 points. This time it was our batters who did the hard work, chasing down 176 for the loss of just the one wicket. Dylan and Tony with unbeaten half-centuries (74 and 63) to see us cruise to victory with 6 overs and 9 wickets left. Tyson had been the pick of the bowlers when Sowerby Bridge batted with 2 for 16 and Hampy went at a miserly 2.29 runs an over in his 14 over spell.
Mytholmroyd- we lost, but lets say we might- MIGHT have been on the end of one or two biased and incorrect umpiring decisions. Brad 4 for 52 and Hampy 3 for 52. We went down by 19 runs, Mark Fellows anchoring our reply with 74, with Dylan and Abeel also scoring 20’s, but we ended up just short. This was the first game after the passing of Booey, so whilst disappointing to not pick up the win, we’re certain there are a lot more important things going on than a game of cricket.
Final match of the month, and we lost our first overs of the 2022 season to the weather. It was only three overs, and it didn’t alter the way our match against Great Horton was going. We looked to be in a bit of bother at 40-4. Brad started the turn-around with 48 off 38 balls and then, despite two wickets in as many balls to reduce us to 110-7, Rob Larkin hit his second 50 for the club off 35 balls as he and Veitchy put on 84 for the 8th wicket, to take us to a more than respectable 195 all out. In reply, Hampy’s 6 for 22 ripped 6 of their top seven out, Abeel had a fantastic run out from mid-wicket with Brad cleaning up their last man to seal a comfortable 64 run win- 12 points.
Sunday Side
Just the one game for our Sunday side in June, owing to a forfeited game against Buttershaw at the end of the month and two inactive weeks due to the platinum jubilee and the cup semi-finals.
The one game we did play saw us take maximum points against Sowerby Bridge. We made 181 for 8 batting first. Sudanshu Sharma with his maiden half-century for the club, with good contributions from both Ken Major and Keasty. In reply, Sudanshu had 4 for 17 and Greg 3 for 20 as our hosts were bowled out for 134 – 20 points.
Junior Cricket
We’re well into the junior season now with the 13’s having finished their league campaign in the penultimate week in June with their remaining fixtures now being cup matches.
It’s one win and two defeats for our young Under 13 side- with all but two of the squad being young enough for at least one more season in this age group. Two defeats against a very strong Stainland and Elland teams were followed by a pleasing win against Clayton, when we only had 9 players. I suspect that Stainland had at least three over age players when we played them at the beginning of the month, and they were too quick and too strong for our young side. Jack Fellows top scored with 20 runs, with younger sister Libby taking the only wicket to fall. Special mention to Lucas Veitch who withstood nearly ten overs of quick bowling from the opposition as he offered up some stubborn resistance with the bat.
A strong Elland bowling attack were too much for us the week after, despite us restricting them to 86 off their 16 overs. Sonny Keast with 2 for 5 being the pick of the bowlers with Liam, Freddie and Isaac also picking up a wicket each. In reply, Libby was the only player to reach double figures as we lost by 40 runs.
A great all-round team performance saw us back to winning ways in our last league match of the season away at Clayton as we chased down 58 with two overs left. Once again, the wickets were shared around with Samuel Scholefield taking his first Under 13 wicket. Sonny and Jack led the way with the bat with scores of 19 and 21* to see us home- about 5 minutes before the rain came!!
We also played a friendly against Stones on 30th June to set us up nicely for the cup fixtures.
It’s three wins from 4 for the Under 11 side in June, with lots of new players on show. A big thanks to Dave Grundy for keeping the show on the road.
Our Under 9’s is a developing team with at least two six-year-olds in this side, so winning is obviously not the main priority for this age-group team. Rob Larkin has done a sterling job in getting everything up and running again for this season for the 9’s, so a special thanks, not only to him but to Veitchy and OB who ran our recent match away to King Cross Under 9’s.
As always, there have been some fantastic individual performances across all three age groups, with the mentality of the SBCI junior section ensuring that everyone gets to have a go and enjoys themselves.
All Stars
Our 2022 All Stars season finished last Sunday. Many thanks to all the children/parents/coaches and volunteers who have made this possible. We hope you all enjoyed it.
Lewis & Dave