A thoroughly miserable June for our three senior sies with our first, second and Sunday sides only registering one win between them in the entire month, meaning a Parish Cup exit for our first XI and the 2’s and Sunday sides very much looking up at the table as we enter the second half of the season. Here’s hoping that July is much better.
Not that June was without success. We had our first second eleven century of the season as skipper Tyson Illingworth brought up his ton in what turned out to be the final ball of our one senior victory in the month away at Copley.
Libby Fellows continues to go from strength to strength with the various Yorkshire ladies’ teams she is involved with, following on from her England Under 19 debut last month and captained the Yorkshire Emerging Player XI in two games against Warwickshire at the end of June. Well done, Libby.
Adwaidh Arun made his senior debut for the club at the beginning of the month, playing alongside his Dad and a big welcome to the club to our two new signings, Bibin Varghese and Akilraj Karammal.
A special mention to Joe Collins who despite still being young enough to represent the Under 9’s side, made his debut for the Under 13’s in June, away at Booth. He took a wicket on his debut and then followed that up, away at Queensbury with two wickets, a catch and a run-out. Superb stuff Joseph.
Our Under 9’s took part in a fantastically well-run tournament on the last Saturday of the month up at Lightlciffe CC along with seven other sides. We came 7th overall, but everyone had a great time and on a lovely summers day it was a great platform to showcase the youngsters’ talents with the bat, ball and in the field against Bradford and Huddersfield league sides.
As you’ll have no doubt seen, the SBCI social event of the year- race night is being held on Saturday 18th July following the conclusion of the second XI game at home to Shelf/Northowram Hedge Top. Always a great occasion for all of the family and a great fundraiser for the club. There are plenty of posts on the socials on this event, but for further information, please get in touch with either Simon Hampshire or Dave Brown.
Finally, but by no means least, and on a more somber note, the club came together on 17th June to commemorate four years since the untimely loss of Andrew ‘crazy legs’ Boocock. Missed by many and he was and will continue to be a big part of our club.
Senior Cricket
1st Team
A frustrating day for the first XI on the first Saturday in June as they came so close to defending 78 at home to Booth, but fell agonisingly short, losing by one wicket. A bad toss to lose on a poor June day and with the preceding week having seen a lot of rain, we were unsurprisingly asked to bat first. At 24 for four, we were in all sorts of bother with three out of the top six having been dismissed without troubling the scorers. Tom, Simon and Gnaman were the only players to reach double figures with Simon top scoring with an unbeaten 28 as we were dismissed with 21 overs of our innings remaining. We’re not in the top four of the Premier Division without good reason and our new ball pair of Alex and Lewis set about the Booth top order. 24 for 3 soon became 49 for four and then 56 for five as we took advantage of the bowler friendly conditions. Will also got in on the act with 4 for 20, but despite our best efforts, and with players crowding the last two Booth batters, they managed to get the penultimate ball of the 31st over away to the boundary to seal a nervy one wicket win. For the second time this season, another one wicket defeat goes against the 1XI, but encouragement to take from nearly defending a low score against one of the divisions best sides.
A day to forget away at Thornton the following week as the opposition hit an unbeaten third wicket partnership of 228, and the bowled us out for 160 to gain revenge for the Parish Cup defeat. It had started off reasonably well, with Alex and Lewis taking a wicket a piece to leave our hosts at 27 for 2. But that was as good as it got as the Thornton number three hit an unbeaten 152 and the number 5 ended up just six short of a century. In reply, a great start from Jamie and Tom had us going at 8 runs an over, but when they both departed with the score on 50 and then 62, then we were on the back foot. Each of our top five made a start, but it really needed one or more of them to really keep going if we were going to get anywhere near the Thornton total. Dan had 34 and Simon 28 in our mid-lower order, but batters 8-11 only scored 4 between them as we were rolled out inside 37 overs to suffer our second league defeat in as many weeks.
June is rapidly becoming a month to forget for all three senior sides as the penultimate week in the month saw another three losses. The defeat at home to Bradshaw was especially disappointing given that we put the opposition into bat having won the toss and bowled them out for 162. Lewis and the skipper the pick of the bowlers with three wickets a piece and Will and Aqeel with two each as our guests for the day were dismissed for a below par total with 2.3 overs left in their innings. Simon had four catches behind the wickets with the gloves to support our outstanding effort with the ball. That was as good as it got as we fell to a 54-run defeat with Liam and Aqeel getting us to an all-important batting point, before we were dismissed for 108 with just over ten overs left. Jamie and Tom had got us off to our customary good start, but we slipped from 42 for 3 to 86 for 7 and only managed to add another 22 runs before the final wicket fell.
A chastening day away at top of the table Illingworth in our final match of the month as our score of 163 all out was never going to be enough and was chased down inside 30 overs with our hosts having second wickets in hand. We won the toss and batted first. Tom scored yet another 50 and as we reach the halfway point of the season now has 610 runs for the season and is some 200 runs ahead of the next top run scorer in the club. Dan had 19, Simon 22 and Liam an unbeaten 27 in his first match against his former club. Tom and Dan had set us a platform with a third wicket partnership of 53, when we had been 28 for 2. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals and despite a 30 run partnership between Simon and Liam, our final wicket fell with the final ball of our innings.
Illingworth had little trouble in chasing the runs they needed with Tom the only player to have any joy with the ball and the game was done inside 30 overs with the opposition opener scoring 88 from 81 balls to ensure that the match was out of our reach.
Parish Cup
The first XI bowed out of the 2026 Parish Cup following a heavy 216 run defeat away at Triangle. We had beaten the same opposition on the same ground in our run to the 2025 final, but 12 months on, the result was very different. Alex was the pick of our bowlers with 1 for 17 from his nine over spell, after having won the toss, but every other bowler took some punishment as our hosts for the day racked up 342 for 7 in their 45 overs. Tom, Arun and Chris were the only other players to take wickets. Tom had his now customary half-century in our reply, but 32 from Dan and 16 from Chris aside, then no other player reached double figures as we slumped from 104 for 4 to 126 all out and fell at the quarter final stages.
2nd Team
A straightforward day for the 2’s and a twelve-point win away at Copley, one of our relegation rivals. Skipper Illingworth won the toss and elected to bowl first. With the weather forecast looking decidedly un-June like, we opened the bowling with the leg spin of Mike Veitch in an attempt to rattle through some overs before (as we thought) the rain would arrive. And what an inspired decision it was as Mike was the pick of the bowlers taking 5 for 51 from 13 overs. He had a bit of help along the way with John, making his 2nd team return taking a sharp catch behind the stumps in the first over and Jack taking an even sharper chance in the covers to dismiss the Copley skipper. Rob had two wickets, getting rid of the Copley top scorer, with a little help from Aqeel and then Tyson wrapped things up with 3 wickets, including the scalp of former SBCI player Ajay and then two in two balls as we dismissed our hosts for 155 with 10 overs of their innings left.
A good day for Tyson turned into a great day as he sent the first ball of the 31st over into the banking for six to seal the win and take him to his first century for the club since 2018. A ten-wicket win wasn’t without its moments as Copley sportingly recalled Tyson after he’d been given out LBW when on one, when he’d quite clearly hit the ball with his bat. There was one dropped catch and a few near misses but with Mark playing the anchor role and finishing on an unbeaten 51, we were always in control and with a short boundary to take advantage of, then the scoring rate was never going to be an issue. And so, it proved and we were done and dusted by 5:15 and with Jonathan, Mike and Jack having suffered an acute bout of pad rash on the side.
No two ways about it, Booth put us to the sword a week later on a very breezy and not very nice mid-June afternoon up at the Astleys. We were 20 for 5 having been asked to bat first with none of our top five having made double figures. There was a recovery of sorts as Jack (12) and Greeny (27) batted sensibly against some more than decent bowling to put on 34 for the 6th wicket. 14 from the returning Simon helped our total a little but these were the only three players to reach double figures. Booth had little issue in getting to the 84 runs required for victory, but two wickets from Simon were all that we had to show for our endeavours on a day where we failed to pick up a single point from the game.
A defeat away at Warley/Elland drops the 2’s into the relegation zone after another disappointing batting collapse saw us go from 105 for 2 to 136 all out. We bowled and fielded really well to restrict our hosts for the day to 215 for 9 from their allotted overs. A ninth wicket partnership of 54 as the Warley/Elland innings was coming to an end probably took the game away from us, and despite our opening three batters getting us to 105, we quickly fell away to leave us very much looking up at the rest of the Premier 2’s table. The spin twins of Mike and Noah were the stars of the show with the ball as they took 7 of the 9 opposition wickets to fall. Mike (5 for 51) got rid of the dangerous Warley opener, thanks to a great catch from Matty and Noah’s spell of 14 overs deserved more than the two wickets he actually took. Hampy with the other two wickets to fall and Richard took three catches. Our opening trio of Mark (60) Richard (17) and Robin (14) were the only players to reach double figures when we batted with the pitch playing a big hand in contributing to a few of our batters’ demise. Four out of our last five batters failed to register a run as we were bowled out with exactly ten overs of the match remaining.
A tough day at the office at home to top of the table Illingworth in very warm conditions in our final match of June saw us bowled out for less than 100 when chasing an unlikely 259 for victory. Our guests for the day won the toss and unsurprisingly elected to bat, with us fielding a weakened and inexperienced 2XI. Despite Tyson taking a wicket early on, a second wicket partnership of 96 and a third wicket partnership of 120 dominated the rest of the innings. That wasn’t to say we weren’t in the game, and our first half bowling and fielding display was excellent, restricting Illingworth to less than three runs an over and some heated exchanges in the middle between the two not out batsmen. Illingworth aren’t top without good reason and when Lucas took the second wicket to fall, it only brought one of their big hitters to the crease who proceeded to hit an unbeaten 90 from 48 balls. Some missed chances along the way, but Matty finally dismissed their opener shortly after he’d made his century and Tyson cleaned up the opposition number 5 as Illingworth ended on 258 for 4 off their 45 overs.
Robin led the way with 29, but he along with Mark and Matty were the only three players to record a double figure score against an attack that would certainly trouble some first XI sides. 17 extras aided our cause and we were only six runs shy of reaching a much needed bonus point when Simon’s run out dismissal (which nicely summed our day up) ended the game with our score on 94 and a heavy 164 run defeat.
Sunday Side
A promising performance with the bat and first 20 overs with the ball didn’t materialise into a win in the first league game of June as a 5th wicket century stand from a young Armitage Bridge side took the game away from us as they cantered home by 6 wickets and with 11.4 overs of the contest left. We had two Father and Son combos on show with Adwaidh Arun making his senior debut alongside his Dad and Ashan playing only his second game of senior cricket, and for the first time with his Dad in the side. We put on a good show with the bat with each of our top four getting into double figure scores without then, really moving on to score heavily. Phil and Chris, our top scorers with 34 and 29 respectively. 108 for 5 quickly turned into 140 all out as our last five wickets fell for 32- the return of the dreaded Sunday shuffle, with Rohit making 20 from 21 balls in and amongst the falling wickets.
Our opening bowling pair of Hari and Arun, along with first change bowler Phil “The Twirl” Earle did their job in the first half of the innings as the opposition struggled to get on top of some high quality bowling and at the halfway stage, they required 71 to win from 20 overs, so the game was really in the balance. During the first half of the Armitage Bridge innings, two wickets from Hari and one a piece from Arun and Phil really had us in the driving seat as our guests for the day were reduced to 40 to 4. Sadly, that was as good as it got for us in the wicket column as the young Huddersfield league side took advantage of a short boundary on one side to quickly catch-up with the required run rate to canter home by six wickets and with plenty of deliveries left.
A good team performance and a competitive game against top of the table Stones saw us come within two wickets of an unexpected win, but ultimately, we were 20-25 runs short and the opposition sealed the win with a six and with 7 overs left. Debuts for both Bibin Varghese and Akilraj Karammal on a bright sunny day up at the Astleys. We were asked to bat first and although the scorecard might not reflect it, Dave and Robin got us off to a more than decent start. Assisted by wides, no balls, byes and a rare five penalty runs, after the ball had hit a helmet, our opening pair were “scoring” at more than four an over for the first 15 overs. A mini collapse after Robin had departed and 61 for 1 soon became 73 for 4. Thankfully, 30 extras and a first 50 of the season from Rohit (53 from 41 balls) added some much-needed runs, but we only batted for 34 of our 40 overs, which would ultimately go on to cost us the game.
We were quickly into the opposition when we took to the field. Not so much in terms of wickets, but in keeping the scoring rate down. Bibin bowled with great pace and accuracy and Matt got some lift out of the pitch which meant that the Stones opening pair rarely got us away to the boundary. A few dropped catches along the way, but the skipper dismissed both of the opposition opening batters and we had them at 41 for 2, the second courtesy of a smart catch from Akil. Fin took a couple of wickets from his eight over spell, Matt deservedly took a wicket when he came back for his second spell and Bibin took his first wicket for the club, but his spell of 1 for 19 deserved so much more. Some lusty blows to the short bottom boundary got Stones within striking distance, and despite a further wicket being taken, the match ended with the ball disappearing into the field behind the sightscreens as we suffered our second defeat of the month. The match was somewhat overshadowed with what looked to be a serious knee injury suffered by Chris Parker as he dived forward onto the grass whilst trying to take a catch. A subsequent trip to hospital has revealed no major injury and a few weeks rest in order for the injury to heal. Get well soon, Chris.
Our final match of the month did see another defeat, but a promising all round team performance away at Outlane saw everyone contribute either with the bat, ball or in the field. We only managed to take four wickets when Outlane batted first, but we recovered well as a team to restrict our hosts to 249 after they had been going at 7 runs an over in the first part of their innings. Haris, Matthew and Yuvi with a wicket each and a run out as the Outlane 5th wicket partnership put on an unbroken 105 to take the game back into their favour.
We made a good fist of chasing the required runs but ultimately came up short. 14-year-old Dylan Larkin opened the batting with Rohit and put on 57 for the first wicket. Rohit kept us his recent good form and hit his second consecutive half-century with a run a ball 54. Wickets fell at regular intervals and 86 for 2 quickly became 121 for 6. Sameer (21) John (19) and the skipper (24 from 18 balls) were the only players to register double figure scores and the match ended with Greeny finding the Outlane fielder, who’d dropped nothing all day on the long on boundary with us 74 runs shy of our target.
Junior Cricket
All Stars- SOLD OUT signs are up at the club with 22 youngsters getting their first taste of cricket on a Sunday morning up at the club.
Under 9’s- two games washed out because of the rain and another because of the heat. 1 game played- 1 win!
Under 11’s – Bradshaw were unable to raise a side at the beginning of the month, two wins and two defeats from the four matches played.
Under 13’s- 1 abandoned game, with one win and two defeats from three matches.
Under 15’s- 1 abandoned game, with three reverses from three games played BUT Low Moor only defeated us by 9 runs in the last match of the month in a game that we could, and perhaps should have won.
Social Events
Race Night - 18th July.
Former Players and Sponsors Day – 1st August.
Annual Club Dinner- Details TBC but looking like Saturday 7th November.
Dave and Lewis
