The first of our monthly reviews for the 2026 season. A shorter review this month given that we are only two weeks into the season, but plenty to get through. Week 1 was a wet and cold affair where we did well to get any cricket in at all, whilst week 2 couldn’t have been more different with blue skies and warm temperatures.
Our junior sides have also started their respective seasons with the Under 9’s getting us all started away at Booth on 23rd April.
Senior Cricket
1st Team
A shortened 25 over a side match away at Triangle got our first XI’s season underway and we came away with a 10-point win, winning by six wickets with 2.5 overs left in the game, successfully chasing down 175. Star of the show was Tom Wood, who took 4 for 43 in the Triangle innings and then scored an unbeaten 94 to see us over the line with brother-in-law Will Thickett hitting the winning runs with a six. Tom’s unbeaten 94 also saw him go past 10,000 first team runs, joining Jamie Summerscales as the only other player in the club’s history to achieve this feat. Back to the game and Arun CK was the only other player to take Triangle wickets (2 for 60), and we’d need just over seven runs an over to get the season off to a winning start. Not an ideal start as we lost a wicket with the first ball of our innings, but support for Tom from the skipper (22) Chris (24) and Dan (23) saw us reach our target with 11 balls remaining and to get the season off to a flying start.
It was a case of what might have been seven days later away at Oxenhope in a game played in ideal cricket conditions. A one wicket loss in the last over was a tough one to take, but three ducks, a run out and not batting our 45 overs meant that we were 15/20 runs below par and always going to be up against it. Tom Wood once again the star of the show with 84 (averaging 178 so far this season). Useful contributions from Jamie (18) Chris (17) the returning Simon Wood (14*) and Arun (24) meant that we’d have something to bowl at. In the Oxenhope reply, the skipper led the way with a superb 3 for 15 from his 14 overs, including 8 maidens. Tom and Will 3 for 70 and 2 for 39 were the other wicket takers but the Oxenhope number 4, did as Tom had done in our innings and anchored the home side to a nervy one wicket win with the winning runs scored off the first ball of the final over of the match.
2nd Team
It’s two wins and two narrow defeats for our second XI this season, but with plenty of reasons to be optimistic that this will be a minor blip in a (hopefully) successful season. We’ve welcomed new signings Richard Gould, Hassan Shahid and Liam Kelly into the side and all have made an impact. A cold and damp start to the season saw a narrow 23 run defeat to Triangle. Hampy the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 42 with Hassan and the skipper taking two wickets a piece and Rob L the other. Tony and Rohit combined with a run out for the other wicket that we took, but a score of 191 looked to be a challenging total on a lively wicket. And so it proved to be as we fell just short. Mark and Jonathan got us off the customary good start, but wickets continued to fall at regular intervals. Scores of 40 a piece from Richard and Hassan along with double figure contributions from Mark, TK, Rohit and Matty got us within striking distance, but ultimately, we ran out of overs and wickets to get any closer than we did.
A similar story seven days later as Blackley took the spoils by a more convincing margin of 34 runs. Our opponents batted first and scored 235 for 4 with Rob L (3 for 41) and Hassan the only players to take wickets. Liam made his debut behind the sticks and took two catches. Half centuries from the skipper and Richard put us in with a shout, but going from 196 for 6 to 196 for 9, meant that it was left to Aqeel and Hassan to ensure we weren’t all out. Jonathan (20) Liam (17) and Hassan (15*) the other main contributors to our total with the bat.
Sunday Side
All done inside two hours up at the Astleys’ on the first Sunday of the season as Matt and Naman combined to take all 10 Lightcliffe wickets for the grand total of 20. Matt 5 for 5 and Naman 5 for 12 (expensive) ran through the opposition batting order and they went from 14 for 2 and 19 for 3 to 20 all out. The skipper took a fine diving catch at mid-off to get the Lightcliffe collapse under way and Jack combined with Woody with a run-out to take the final wicket, but in between these it was 7 clean bowled efforts and a simple catch to Robin in the gully. Phil scored 15* as we romped home by 8 wickets.
A narrow defeat a week later but juniors to the fore as Jack scored his first ever senior half century and Noah the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 17. Robin and Mike got us off to a solid start (29 and 18 respectively) and then it was over to Jack to steer the innings to 135 for 5 off our 40 overs scoring an unbeaten 57 with 38 of those runs coming in boundaries. No other scores in double figures, meant that we lost a bit of late innings impetus and our score looked to be 15/20 runs short. And so, it turned out to be. Rastrick got off to a flyer, despite a wicket from the first ball of their innings (71 runs in quick time before the second wicket fell) but Harri, Noah and Fin, as well as a run out and some good catching had us right back in the match. The father and son combination on the Rastrick side saw them home by two wickets and with plenty of overs left, but encouraged by a 26-point haul from our first two matches of the season.
Junior Cricket
Friday nights really are a hive of activity up at the club with nearly 60 registered children playing cricket for the club across 4 age group teams.
It’s one win and one defeat for our Under 9’s so far, the Under 11’s sadly had their opening game of the season washed out due a Monday afternoon downpour. Our Under 13’s had a convincing win against Queensbury with Millie Gould being the star of the show with 4 for 7 and despite a heaving opening day of the season defeat to Northowram Fields, Dylan Larkin opened the batting and retired on 36 not out in a total of 89 for 2. So, a mixed bag of results to get the season underway, but some really good standout individual performances.
Dave and Lewis
