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The weather has started to be a bit more summer like over the past few weeks or so meaning that junior training could be conducted in shorts and t-shirt for the first time this season without the need for a bobble hat. Our Under 9’s and 15’s have concluded their respective seasons with our Under 11’s and Under 13’s reaching the quarter finals of their respective cup competitions with the latter stages of cups taking place at the start of August.
Our first team have had a successful month with the only reverse against table topping Thornton. The 2’s suffered semi-final heartache at the hands of Booth but are still in the hunt for the league title.
The Sunday side continue to develop, and Liam Parker became the 6th SBCI Under 15 to make their Sunday team debut in 2024. We’ll need a huge slice of luck (along with some better performances) to avoid being relegated but playing at a level more suited to our abilities in 2025 might not be such a bad thing.
As a club, we’re looking to make history by becoming the first Halifax Premier Division 1XI team to have a female player turn out for us. Final details are being confirmed as you read this and we hope to have Lancashire leg-spinner Oliva Thomas on-board in time for the first XI fixture away at Oxenhope this coming Saturday. Please keep an eye out on our social media channels for any further developments. You can never have too many Lancastrians in your club – fact!
A final plea for anyone who has some time free on Sunday 18th August as we host the Crossley Shield final (2nd team knockout competition). Even if you are free for a couple of hours, whether that be in the morning or afternoon, there’ll be plenty of “things” that need doing. Please do contact a junior manager or anyone at the club if you can help.
Senior Cricket
1st Team
July was a positive month for the 1st XI as an away defeat to champions Thornton was the only blemish on our record, with three wins from a possible four.
We started the month with the short trip to neighbours Sowerby Bridge and our hosts decided to bat first upon winning the toss. After they reached 82/0, and then 98/1, we were behind in the game, but we rallied to take wickets at regular intervals from there on in. Divakar Nagappan (5/48) and Alex Scholefield (4/57) were the spearheads in our efforts as Bridge were bowled out for 158.
In response, Tom Wood (51) got us off to a flying start and when he was out with the score on 69, fellow opener Jamie Summerscales (76*) took over where Tom had left off. It took us just 26.3 overs to reach our winning target for the loss of only two wickets.
The following week we hosted Shelf Northowram and after skipper Simon Wood won the toss, we asked them to bat first. All four bowlers used contributed to the wickets column, with Lewis Firth (5/44) the pick of the figures, backed up by an economical spell of 2/29 from Alex. Our opponents had some sort of recovery from 61/5 to record 141 all out but we were confident of victory at the halfway point.
Jamie (17) and Tom (33), carrying on from last week, put on another 50 stand to create the platform for the chase. However, when both were out to leave the scoreboard reading 69/2, it required Alex (46*) and Chris Dalby (36) to come together and steady proceedings. And so, they did, putting on 59 before Chris was out. Three late wickets were not enough to change the result as Alex saw us through, Gnanam hitting the winning runs with a six to record a 5 wicket win with more than 7 overs to spare.
The only defeat of the month could – and possibly should – have been a different story as we failed to capitalise on having had hosts Thornton in a heap of trouble at 56/5 and 74/7. Alex (3/38) was on fine form opening up before Tom (4/40) and Divakar (3/17) came on to continue the good work. However, we slightly let Thornton off the hook as they rallied to record 150 all out. Still, a good bowling effort and a score which looked very chaseable at halfway.
Unfortunately, our scorecard did not make pretty reading as only Jamie (48) and Lakshmi Narayanan (10*) were able to come to terms with the tight bowling sufficiently to make it into double figures. Wickets fell in clusters, firstly for the score to read 6/3, and then, despite a recovery to 64/4, to soon read 67/9 before our eventual total of 84 all out.
We put the defeat behind us at the first time of asking, with a 4-wicket defeat of Bradshaw at home to close out the month. Simon won the toss and chose to field first, but it was Bradshaw who struck the early blows with their score reading 28/0 after just four overs. We took two quick wickets to peg them back to 36/2, but from there a partnership of 97 for the 3rd wicket got our visitors into a good position to make a really challenging total. Some tight bowling in the closing overs from Tom Wood (1/49 off 12 overs) and Arun CK (1/24 off 6) meant a good score did not become an insurmountable one as Bradshaw closed their 45 overs on 194/4.
In response, Adam Fawcett was the rock around which we built our innings, as he scored 69 valuable runs and remained at the crease throughout the chase. At 24/2 there was some trepidation, but Chris (36) helped Adam steady the ship before Jamie (30) and Gnanam (22) played valuable roles in increasing our run rate as the overs ticked down. It was a chase timed to perfection, and with 8 needed from 8 balls, Divakar hit his first ball for four over the bowlers head to take us to the brink of victory. It was secured with a three from the first ball of the final over, to round off an excellent month and leave Chris headed for celebratory drinks in Sowerby Bridge in great spirits.
2nd Team
League
A fantastic start to the month with a hard earned four wicket win over Blackley. Despite having our guests for the day at 5 for 3, 12 for 4 and then 31 for 5, they managed to get to 144 for 9 off 40 overs. A windy day up at the ‘Stute not helping and at least four catches went to ground, with Mike showing us all how to do it with a great diving catch at midwicket. Tyson (3 for 32) and Hampy (2 for 23) the star performers with the ball with Mike, Dylan and Brad also taking a wicket each with Brad also effecting a run out as Blackley looked for late innings runs.
63 not out off 37 balls from Brad was the standout performance with the bat as he saw us home to victory with around 13 overs left. We had gone from 17 for 2 to 24 for 3, but a patient 30 from Jonathan Hampshire steadied the ship and when he was 6th man out, only 15 more were required, which we duly knocked off with no further losses.
A closer game away at Great Horton Park Chapel followed 7 days later with us only having 3.4 overs left of our innings as we successfully chased down 161. Bowling first, Brad with 4 for 58 and Dylan 3 for 35 put us in a good position, but 74 from 48 balls from their opening batter as well as some lower order resilience meant that we would need a good batting performance to get over the line. Rob Larkin mopped up the GHPC tail and finished with impressive figures of 2 for 15.
Mark, TK and Jonathan all made scores in the thirties to give us a good platform on our way to victory, but 14 were still needed for victory when Dylan was 6th man out. Thankfully, 19 off 10 balls from Brad gave us that final push needed to secure us our first maximum point haul of the month.
A more comfortable victory followed the week after as Bridgeholme were despatched for 160 and we chased it down inside 30 overs. Our opposition started brightly and had been 99 for 2, but this very quickly descended to 160 all out. Tyson with 6 for 36 the obvious highlight with the ball, aided and abetted with 2 for 23 from skipper Keast and a run out from Mike.
A fifty run first wicket partnership between Mark and Greeny set us on our way, and despite a mini collapse where we lost four wickets for 22 runs, Brad (again) with 52 not out from 29 balls and 33 not out from 32 balls from Chris Parker saw us comfortably home with overs and wickets to spare.
And so, onto the final league match of the month, where we came undone against bottom of the table Bradshaw. To add insult to injury, both our rivals for the title also lost, so it was definitely a case of a missed opportunity. In summary, they got too many runs, we dropped a few catches and were left with too much to do when Matty was the final wicket to fall with us 78 runs short of our target. Dylan and Tyson bowled well without reward in their innings, with Rob Larkin overcoming illness to take 5 for 68 off his allocated overs. 5 of our batters got into double figures and so had made starts, but we couldn’t take advantage of this and continued to lose wickets at untimely intervals as our run chase and run of victories in July came to a grinding halt.
Cup
A disappointing way to bow out of the cup at the semi-final stage, especially with the final being played at the Astley’s in August. We were unable to field our strongest XI for a variety of reasons, but Booth did run out as rightful winners on the day so not too many complaints. On a chilly day up at the Astleys where a good crowd had gathered, Matty won the toss and elected to field first. Tyson, Dylan and Rob each with 2 or more wickets to their names with Lakshmi and Mike chipping in with a wicket each. 194 was a decent score on our big ground and we’d have to be at our very best to chase it down.
A promising start as we reached 63 for the loss of only two wickets – that turned into 93 for 5 despite 57 from Mark Fellows and we were always up against it after his was the 6th wicket to fall with 90 still needed. Dylan, Rob and Matty all made double figures towards the end of our innings, but we couldn’t make up the deficit and we gave up our hold on the Crossley Shield by a margin of 42 runs. Still 2 semi-finals and a victory in 4 years is a fantastic return in this competition for our 2XI.
Sunday Side
Just the three fixtures for the Sunday team in July owning to the Rod Warhurst Trophy final taking place at the beginning of the month.
Three pretty heavy defeats, but we’re trying to integrate our juniors into the side. For those who might not recall, we came pretty close to disbanding our Sunday team around 2/3 years ago, and we’re now in such a strong position that we don’t need to ask anyone to “double-up”, we regularly have 12th and 13th men for our games.
We had Great Horton at 83 for 6 in our first game of the month- Robin, Ajay and Sameer then main protagonists with the ball, but a 9th wicket partnership of 55 and then 43 not out from their number 10 on a very damp day took the game away from us as our host finished on 196 for 9 off their 40 overs. Chris, Phil, Jack, Ajay and Rohit al got “starts” in our reply, but we were rolled out for 102 inside 30 overs. Highlight of the game was a superb catch from Phil Earle.
A week later and a very similar story to the Great Horton match. One Outlane partnership of 120 was the difference between the sides. Robin, Naman and Fin were the pick of the bowlers with Matthew Grundy collecting his first ever senior wicket. Paul Collins outdid Phil from the previous week with an even better catch (a one handed full length diving snaffle) – shame it wasn’t captured on Frogbox. Naman, Ken and Rohit the only players to reach double figures with the bat as we stumbled to 90 all out.
Captain for the day Dave Brown lost the toss on a sweltering day up at the Astleys in the last match of the month- and we lived to regret it. Northowram scoring 222 was always going to be a big ask, and 20-30 runs more than we would have liked them to have got. Satyam and Dave with 5 of the Northowram wickets to fall. We weren’t helped by an injury to opening batter Chris Parker which he picked up whilst fielding, meaning we had to shuffle our batting order around. Dave top-scored with 22, with Rohit, Chris and Naman the only other players to record double-figure scores as we slipped to 92 all out and with that dropped to the bottom of the league table.
Junior Cricket
And just like that, months of preparation, indoor nets and wet and windy outdoor training and in (what feels like the blink of an eye) the junior season is all but done for another season. Even as recently as the last Monday of July, we’ve had queries asking if they can sign their son or daughter up to play for us. Numbers wise, it’s been our best ever year, with around 60 juniors signed up to play junior cricket across four age groups. We are all about giving everyone a chance regardless of experience and / or ability and perhaps our results across the age groups reflect this, but we’ll come back in April a year older with some cricket experience to fall back on as we head into the 2025 season.
A special mention to Jack Fellows, Noah Gould, Liam Parker, Matthew Grundy, Lucas Veitch and Finaly Charnock who have all made their Sunday team debuts in 2024. There’s plenty more juniors queuing up to join that list in 2025.
The end of season junior presentation will take place on Friday 6th September. Please keep an eye out in your respective junior Whatsapp groups for further details as we move closer to the end of the season.
Social Events
The Quiz night was a great success on 13th July, with the Veitchs and Browns splitting the cash prize of £50. Mike also won the 50-club draw for July meaning he was quids in for the month and drinks on him when he’s back from holiday. Unfortunately, the final of the Euros which was televised at the club the day after didn’t provide the result we were looking for but was attended in good numbers.
The following week was music bingo night which went down a treat. I think the last members out of the club may well have done so when it was getting light the following morning. Superb effort to Laura and everyone involved with the planning and organising of these events.
The end of the month finished with an impromptu chippy tea on the outfield. Many thanks to the 20 or so people who attended at very short notice.
End of season dinner
Our social secretary has been working hard on getting the end of season dinner all sorted with this being held at Southwood on Birdcage Lane in Halifax on Saturday 23rd November. Please do not hesitate to contact Laura (07861 644307) if you would like to attend. Full balance and menu choices to be confirmed by the end of August please.
Dave and Lewis