1st Team – League Fixtures
2nd May- Shelf/Northowram Hedge Top (H)
The first XI carried on their great start to the season into May with a convincing win over Shelf/Northowram Hedge Top. Shelf won the toss and interestingly elected to bowl first on a wicket that hadn’t seen any rain since the first weekend of the season. And we took full advantage of using the facilities first as we racked up 260 for 2 in 45 overs. Jamie carried his bat for a superb unbeaten 125 with Alex reaching his half-century off the final ball of our innings. Tom also had this third half-century of the season, scoring 68 and having put on 139 for the first wicket.
In reply, it was only the wicketkeeper with 75 who put up any resistance and Shelf were bundled out for 134 inside 40 overs. Alex (3 for 25) and Will (3 for 36) the pick of the bowlers with Lewis also chipping in with three wickets and Tom the other. Another 12 points in the bag.
9th May – Sowerby St Peters (A)
Sowerby St Peters were dispatched with little fuss and inside 35 over the following week as we dodged the rain showers to pick up another 12 points. A great toss to win and we elected to bowl given the conditions and forecasted rain. We had our hosts at 29 for 4 inside 14 overs with Lewis and Alex sharing the wickets between them. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals with Lewis being the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 25 from his 12 over spell. Four catches behind the wickets for Simon and a run out helped our cause and it was left to Will (3 for 27) to clean up the Sowerby tail and we’d be chasing 88 to win.
Despite us being reduced to 25 for 2 and then 45 for 3 in the run chase, 32 not out from Chris and 22 from Dan helped us over the line inside 20 overs and with plenty of wickets in hand.
16th May- Upper Hopton (H)
We made it four wins from five at home to Upper Hopton the week after with another maximum point win, despite being asked to bat first having lost the toss on an overcast and damp Saturday afternoon. The great news from our batting performance, was that each of our top five batsmen each made a great contribution to our 222 for 9. Jamie started us off with 34, Tom carried on his excellent form with yet another half-century and the skipper (22) Chris (30) and a run a ball 27 from Dan set us a superb platform to ensure we obtained maximum batting points. 25 off 18 balls from Gnanam and a run a ball 13 not out from Mike saw out the 45 overs.
At 0-2, 24-4 and 48-6, we were looking at an early finish as our new ball pair of Alex and Lewis did the damage, ultimately taking 8 for 82 between them. Some lower middle order resistance and the wag of the Hopton tail, got them to within 48 of our score, but the return of the opening pair saw further opposition wickets fall. Will with a wicket and Tom finished off the game taking the final wicket of the match with our guests for the day 48 runs short of their target and with 25 balls of the match remaining.
23rd May – Luddendenfoot (A)
We were done and dusted inside 2.5 hours on the Bank Holiday Saturday away at Luddendenfoot as Alex and Lewis combined to take all of our hosts’ wickets in double quick time to ensure another maximum point haul. 47 all out inside 24 overs with the skipper leading the way with 7 for 29 from his 12 overs. Lewis had the other three wickets for 18 runs as Foot’ were blown away. In fact, it was very much a watching brief for the other nine fielders on the SBCI side as Alex and Lewis also took four catches between them to see us roll the opposition with almost half of the overs remaining. The win was sealed inside 5 overs as Jamie, Tom and Gnanam took a shocked home bowling attack to the cleaners with the 50 runs we scored coming off 29 balls.
30th May – Copley (A)
The final league match of the month saw a well-timed run chase on a day filled with runs as we took advantage of other teams’ slip-ups to end the month top of the table. On a bright and sunny day down at Copley, we lost the toss and were, unsurprisingly asked to take to the field first. Alex, Tom and Will took two wickets a piece as we restricted Copley to 215 for 6 from their 45 overs, the same three players also taking catches when we were out in the field.
Jamie and Tom got us off to the perfect start with a first wicket partnership of 46 before Jamie departed for 22. An even better stand followed as Tom (carrying on his excellent start to the season) and Alex (49) put on 127 for the second wicket to take us within 43 of our target. Despite the loss of a couple of quick wickets and then Tom for an excellent 92, an unbeaten 12 from Will and 21 from Simon saw us over the line with five wickets and 19 balls in hand. Simon finishing the game with consecutive balls going for 6, 4 and then a final six to make the ten-point win even sweeter.
