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SBCI Monthly Review – August 2023
Senior Cricket
Pride of place in August quite rightly goes to our 2nd XI who won the Crossley Shield for the first time in the club’s history on 20th August against our local rivals Warley. A full write up can be found here: -
2XI 2023 Crossley Shield reports
We always suffer with holiday absences in August, and this has taken a toll on both the first and second teams. The first team won only one of four matches played in August but sit comfortably in mid-table and a defeat at Illingworth the day before the Crossley Shield final and an abandonment at half-time on the Bank Holiday Saturday because of hail has effectively put an end to any title aspirations, although a third-place finish is very much in the 2XI’s sights.
The Sunday team have, unfortunately only been able to take to the field once in August but have taken the maximum point haul available to give them an excellent chance of beating the drop.
Our senior season finishes on Saturday 16th September, with the Sunday side finishing off six days earlier on the 10th.
1st Team
August started out in disappointing fashion as we failed to chase down 124/9, in another low scoring affair against our opposition from down the valley, Copley. Ikhlaq Ahmed led the way with 4 for 43, Tom Wood and Alex Scholefield each chipping in with 2 wickets. It was a bowling performance which warranted a better result, but our batting let us down, despite 29 from Tom and 30 from Alex, as we folded to 110 all out, a 14-run defeat. It is worth noting that the poor weather throughout our batting innings, coupled with a mystery ‘DLS target’, may well have played its part in some otherwise questionable shots, but it was nevertheless a disappointing defeat.
The next week brought our only win of the month, as we won the toss and skipper Simon Wood made the brave decision to bat first on another rainy, on-off day, with overs reduced to 27-a-side at near neighbours Sowerby Bridge. Jamie Summerscales’s fantastic 107 not out led the way, which included 9 fours and 8 sixes, and was scored off just 77 balls. He was well backed up by Alex’s 41, and despite no one else reaching double figures, we had a competitive total of 168/6 to bowl at. Lewis Firth and Alex took 3 wickets a piece, each off 10 overs, to leave Bridge 52/6 and more than 100 runs from their target. Despite a few late order runs, Dan Sykes came on to clean up the tail, taking 4 wickets for a meagre 13 runs. We bowled our hosts out for 113 to record a 55-run victory.
The following week we welcomed Triangle, for another low scoring game, which frustratingly also ended in defeat. We were never at the races with the bat, and had Gnanam’s brilliant 65 off 50 balls, including a whopping 8 sixes, to thank as we made it to 140 all out, having been 89/9. Our bowling let us down much as our batting had, as Triangle put on 97 for the first wicket, and despite a wobble thanks to 3 wickets from Tom and 2 from Dan, our visitors managed to get home with 5 wickets and 2.4 overs to spare.
A visit to Bradshaw rounded off the month, and we were asked to bat first after losing the toss. It was not easy going but Adam Fawcett’s defiant 83 held our innings together, Sam Hinchliffe his biggest contributing partner with 24 at more than a run-a-ball. We recorded 164/5 – competitive for sure – but arguably a few short on a small ground. And so it proved, as despite not allowing a single Bradshaw batter to pass thirty, a couple of dropped chances meant it was a case of ‘what might have been’ as we lost with just over 3 overs remaining, by 3 wickets, Tom taking 4 for 36.
Season to date statistics – as at August month end
Batting
Jamie Summerscales – 489 runs @37.62
Adam Fawcett – 184 runs @ 36.80
Lewis Firth – 195 runs @27.86
Bowling – (minimum of 15 wickets)
Daniel Sykes – 21 wickets @ 8.57
Tom Wood 28 wickets @ 16.11
Alexander Scholefield 34 wickets @ 17.09
Fielding
Gnanam Arjun – 4 fielding points
Tom Wood & Sam Hinchliffe – 3 fielding points
2nd Team
A wet start to August meant that our match away at Sowerby Bridge was cancelled at 10:30.
The following week, the rain intervened again meaning a 28 over a side match at home to Bradshaw. Winning the toss and fielding first, we restricted our guests for the day to 88 for 8 off their allotted allocation of overs with Chris Dalby being the star of the show with 5 for 20. Chris carried on his fine form with the bat in the second innings and was there on 31 not out with Greeny on 38 not out as we cantered home by nine wickets inside 20 overs.
I’ll be very careful in how I word the game against Illingworth, but we lost a low scoring game, where there may have been one or two questionable decisions which aided our defeat to effectively end our league title aspirations. Our much loved and mild-mannered Treasurer watched the game from his sunbed in Spain and was extremely angry at some of the decisions and the manner of the appealing from the home side – the fire very much still burns Mr Hampshire- lovely to see. We skittled Illingworth for 93 – the skipper with 4 for 20 with Brad, Rob and Waqas also chipping in with five wickets between them. TK obliged with the other wicket via a run out with a direct hit from the covers. Only Greeny, Matty and Brad made double figures in our reply as we came up 11 runs short.
The final match of the league season was against Booth, and some less than impressive fielding allowed Booth to reach 219 for 5 before the hail (yes hail) put an end to the game. Rob Larkin with two wickets and Matty Keast with two exceptional catches in the field were the highlights of the game before the match was abandoned.
Season to date statistics as at August month end
Batting
Mark Fellows – 732 runs @ 73.20
Chris Dalby – 742 runs @ 53.00
John Greenwood – 531 runs @ 35.40
Bowling – (minimum of 15 wickets)
Chris Dalby - 19 wickets @ 11.16
Waqas Suffyan – 21 wickets @ 13.10
Rob Larkin 33 wickets @ 15.21
Fielding
Matthew Keast – 5.5 fielding points
Dylan Evans – 4 fielding points
Sunday Side
August was unfortunately a short and sweet affair for the Sunday side. No matches played on 6th and 20th August because of the respective 1st and 2nd Team cup finals and the final match of the month away at Stones was cancelled on the morning of the fixture as the opposition were unable to raise a side- that gave us 20 points to aid our fight against the drop but didn’t come in the way we would have liked.
The one game we did get in was a belter away at Great Horton Park Chapel. Batting first an all-out total of 102 might not seem much but on a ground where two weeks previously both teams had been rolled out for a cumulative total of 110, then we knew we were in with a shout. Phil Earle with his 7th outing with the bat in about 26 years led the way with a calm and measured 26, with double figure scores from Dylan, Waqas and Mr E X Tras to get us to our total. In reply, it was all over inside 12 overs as Greg and Waqas took 9 wickets for 25 runs between them with an incredible spell of bowling to leave our hosts in shock. Waqas with some unbelievable swing bowling that cleaned up four of Great Horton’s batting line up. Greg equally as impressive and also with a run out which really got our momentum going in the field, which we never let up on. Easily our most impressive performance of the season and full points.
Season to date statistics as at August month end
Batting
David Brown – 143 runs @47.67
Rohit Singh – 154 runs @15.40
Paul Collins – 68 runs @13.60
Bowling – (minimum of 6 wickets)
Greg Boocock – 18 wickets @ 14.83
Sudanshu Sharma 6 wickets @ 19.00
Richard Conway 8 wickets @ 30.00
Fielding
Charlie Wesencraft – 3 fielding points
Greg Boocock – 2.5 fielding points
Junior Cricket
All done and dusted for another season which ran as late as 17th August with our 13’s finishing the season off with two wins and a defeat from their final three matches of the season.
Our Under 11’s finished off the season with a convincing win against Illingworth whilst our Under 9’s suffered a defeat in their final match of the season away at Copley.
A massive thanks to all those involved in 2023 to ensure that our games went ahead- coaches, ground staff, team managers, people who jump behind the bar on match nights and Mum’s/Dad’s/Grandparents- we couldn’t do it without you.
Just a reminder that the junior presentation evening will be held up at the club on Friday 8th September. Further details to be announced nearer to the time, but any club members who are willing to do a couple of hours on the bar, then please let one of us know.
Photpgraph from the Booth game on August 26th- yes that is hail!
Dave and Lewis