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SBCI Monthly Review – June 2023
Senior Cricket
It’s been an up and down month for all three of our senior sides with wins and defeats for all three teams. The second team sit on the brink of a Crossley Shield semi-final with 9 overs of the quarter-final still to be played this coming Sunday. The first team are looking to consolidate a top 5 position and the Sunday team are improving with each passing week, despite only taking the field with 10 players in their last match in June. Junior sides and All Stars are blessed with great numbers both at training and on match-days, with our 9’s, 11’s and 13’s now approaching the final 6 or so weeks of their respective seasons.
1st Team
June was overall a disappointing month for the 1st XI who recorded just one win from four opportunities. We started away at Triangle, and posted a very creditable 328/7 from our 45 overs. Tom Wood led the way with 55 at just over a run a ball and Sam Hinchliffe (75) carried on Tom’s good work to take us to 215/3 at one stage. Arun CK hit 65 off 55 balls before Gnanam simply took the Triangle bowling apart at the end, hitting one third of the total balls he faced for six. He scored 72 off 27 balls to leave us seemingly in the ascendancy at half way. A family emergency meant skipper and wicketkeeper Simon Wood had had to leave us and so none other than Chris ‘Harribob’ Harrison rolled back the years, donning the gloves as substitute fielder and doing a very tidy job throughout the afternoon. Unfortunately, much of our bowling and fielding was less tidy and a determined Triangle side managed to overhaul our total – dropped catches certainly contributing to a frustrating 5-wicket defeat which came off the first ball of the final over.
We next took on 3rd placed Bradshaw, back at The Astleys, and our visitors elected to bat upon winning the toss. We took wickets at reasonably regular intervals, but nevertheless Bradshaw made it to 229/7 at the end of their 45 overs. In response our run rate was always good but we conspired to lose wickets at far more regular intervals than our opponents had, and when Alex Scholefield (61) was 5th out with the score at 114, the winning total looked a long way off. Lewis Firth (33) and Waqas Sufyan at least managed to take us past the 150 mark for an extra point, but we were all out for 157, a hefty 72-run defeat.
A trip to Oxenhope finally got us off the mark for June – but we were made to work hard for our 12 points. Unexpected rain at the start reduced the match to a 38 overs per side affair, and we lost the toss and were asked to bat. All six of the batsmen who got to the crease made double figures, with Sam (62), Alex (38) and Simon (38*) our top contributors in what looked like a good total of 213/4. Oxenhope’s chase got off to a fast start – one of their openers lofting two sixes off his first three balls – but we took regular wickets to keep the scoring rate in check. With the game in the balance, Aqeel Taj’s brilliant spell of 4 for 32 off 7 overs swung the game in our favour and we were able to close out a 27-run win, with some excellent catches aiding our cause.
Our final match in June was one best forgotten, aside from a fine solo effort from Gnanam who scored 69 not out, including 6 sixes. His knock did get us up to 173 all out, a score which had looked unlikely at 85/7. However, it proved nowhere near enough as Illingworth’s openers put on 163 for the first and only wicket to fall, as they chased down our score inside 28 overs.
T20
A T20 side made the trip to Thornton for T20 Trophy Group Day against Thornton and Triangle. We were well beaten in the first match against the hosts but rallied to chase down 145 against Triangle, winning by 2 wickets with an over to spare. We finished 2nd in the group table and exit the competition without reaching finals day. Notable performances included Aqeel’s 3 for 26 in the first game, and some tight overs from Sameer Saeed and Sudhanshu Sharma in the second game which kept their total ultimately within our reach.
2nd Team
After a blazing run of results in April and May, the second team have had a more up and down month, with three narrow defeats from their four league games as well as a good win away to Booth. We were poor against Illingworth at the start of the month, making a below par 172/8 from our 45 overs. Greeny maintained his excellent form with the bat with another half-century, ably supported by some lower order runs from Rob Larkin and Matty Keast (30 and 24 respectively). Despite 4/18 from 14 overs from the skipper, our visitors for the day were able to reach their target with 11 balls to spare and with 4 wickets in hand.
The following week, and having lost the toss away at Booth, we managed to restrict them to a more than respectable 251 all out, in spite of a century from their number 4 batter. Tyson (4 for 68) the pick of the bowlers with Hampy and Rob picking up two wickets each with two run outs!! Everyone got a start with the bat in our reply – (Mark 35 and Chris and John 23 each) but we were behind the run rate until Tony Kirby hit 62 off 31 balls and a perfectly timed 71 not out from Dylan Evans saw us over the line with three balls to spare. A more than handy 30 not out from Tyson off 22 balls giving us that much-needed final push to see us to victory.
On the 1-year anniversary of Andrew Boocock’s sad and untimely passing, we were unable to record a victory that would have put a big grin on Booey’s face, especially with our opponents being Warley. We made a more than impressive 248/2 with Chris scoring his first century of the season from 95 balls, ably supported by Mark 62 and Dylan 37 not out. It didn’t prove to be enough as our local rivals cantered home with around three overs left and by three wickets. Tyson (2 for 56) was the pick of the bowlers.
And so onto the league and cup double-header against Greetland and Mytholmroyd. The Greetland number 9 was their second highest score, as our hosts progressed from 82 for 5 to their final total of 172 all out. Iqhlaq and Tyson taking 8 of the ten wickets to fall- with Ikhy taking 5 for 74, and a M Keast direct hit, knocking down the one wicket he had to aim at helping us along the way. Only three players made double figure scores in our reply- John and Mark got us off to our usual good start with a 65 run partnership for the first wicket, but Jonathan Hampshire was the only other player to get past a single figure score, to leave us 12 runs short.
It was a late finish up at the Stute’ on the final Sunday of the month as the Crossley Shield tie against Mytholmroyd is finally balanced with 10 overs of the opposition innings left and they’ll require 44 runs with 4 wickets remaining. We made 209 for 8 from our 45 overs. Mark 53 and Chris 57 being the main contributors to that total along with an invaluable 34 not out from 31 balls from the returning Mike Veitch, and 15 from 13 balls from the vice-captain. Mike then switched his attention to bowling and has 3 for 21 with one over remaining of his nine over spell with Hampy, Dollars and Rob L taking a wicket each.
Fingers crossed the weather is set fair for July 2nd enabling us to get the game finished properly rather than having to resort to a ball out.
Sunday Side
Much like our second team, its three wins and a defeat from the four league games we’ve played in June. 98 all out away at Illingworth was never going to be enough with Rohit top scoring with 37 not out and despite two wickets for Sudanshu in reply, which gave us hope as Illingworth fell to 34/4, an unbroken 5th wicket partnership of 67 saw our hosts home by 6 wickets and with 15 overs left.
The less said about our 185-run defeat the following week to Great Horton Park Chapel the better. 52 from the bat of Mark Pottinger was the highlight with Richard Conway taking two wickets in reply. Win the toss and bat next time skipper!
And he did win the toss, and we did bat first and we did win seven days later as we produced our best batting display of the season to record an emphatic victory over a young and promising Stones side. Ken 21 and Rohit 12 had starts, but at 41/3 we were wary of a traditional Sunday team collapse- not helped by Mark treading on his stumps. Dave Brown has a first-class degree in finding the fielder but was still there when Paul Collins walked to the wicket with just less than 7 overs left. In that time, there was a 53-run partnership (despite the first ten balls being dots) as we took our score from a respectable one to a more than decent one. Paul with 40 not out off 22 balls being the star of the show.
In reply, we took wickets at regular intervals to leave our guests behind the run rate Greg 3 for 35 and Richard 2 for 43 getting us off to a good start. Paul then followed his excellent batting performance up with 2 for 16 including a superb caught and bowled and it was then left to Dave Brown (3 for 5) to wrap up the Stones tail and give us a much needed and well deserved 20 points.
Playing in the rain on a big ground with ten men is never ideal, and despite a superb effort with both bat and ball, Low Moor had too much for us on the day as they dodged the showers to romp home by eight wickets and with plenty of overs left. Rohit 45 and Waqas 53* the stars of the show with the bat with Satyam, Bash and Browny also making double figures. Greg was the only player to have any joy with a now wet ball (2 for 43) with Waqas taking a great catch at long-off to get rid of their number 3 who’d made 52 off 33 balls.
Plenty of time left in the season to lift ourselves up that table.
Junior Cricket
Under 9’s
Just the three matches for our Under 9’s team as the cup enters its knockout phase in the last two weeks of June. Three defeats, but that’s irrelevant at this age group as it gives our youngsters a path into cricket and a chance for everyone involved to have a bat and ball.
Under 11’s
Again, just the three matches for our Under 11 side and despite an administrative error which meant that the victory against Sowerby was, unfortunately turned into a loss by the league, it hasn’t stopped the 11’s storming through to the semi-finals of the Collinson Cup, with a match at home against Warley on Monday 3rd July. We had a victory against Southowram, Bradshaw and on Monday 26th June against Low Moor to see us through to the knockout stages of the competition.
Under 13’s
Not a great start to June as we only had three players for our first match of the month, so had to concede. We came up against some high-quality bowling seven days later against Thornton and were only able to register 54/6 off our 20 overs, with the home side knocking the required runs off for the loss of three wickets, Sam and Libby taking the three wickets to fall. We were poor with the ball and in the field (save for a stunning catch from Liam) against King Cross, but better with the bat (Isaac 22, Jack and Sam 15 each) as we scored 110 but lost out by 50 runs. We turned it around with a superb all-round performance against Low Moor in our last home cup match of the season. The wickets were shared around as we bowled first and restricted our guests to 96/5 from their 20 overs. Noah and Jack were the backbone of our reply with both getting to 27 before retiring, with Libby and Mason in at the end to see us over the line with 2.2 overs of our innings left. Best match of the month was the one played out on the penultimate day of the month where we scraped home against Clayton by two wickets and with two balls left in the match. Liam was the pick of the bowlers with two wickets and with Jack retiring on 27, when it was our turn to bat, it was left to Matthew and Liam to see us over the line.
Well done everyone.
Dave and Lewis