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Both Saturday senior sides finished the season picking up twelve points to give us a satisfying end to the 2023 season - this despite the best efforts of yours truly with three dropped catches against Luddendenfoot (one of which was the king of the dollies). The second XI had a perfect September picking up the maximum 36 points on offer to finish the season in a highly creditable 3rd place, and coupled with the Crossley Shield win, its been a very satisfying season.
The Sunday side finished their season on 10th Seotenber and picked up the required 4 wickets to give us the two points required to ensure we survive in division 2 of the Sunday section.
The end of season junior presentation was held at the club on a balmy September evening with thanks to all those who attended and volunteered on the night with food and bar duties as well as to the coaches and team managers who’ve ensured we’ve been able to run three successful teams this year. Well done to all the winners on the night.
Some 14 hours after the 2023 season had finished then work started on getting the ground ready for 2024, as a small band of volunteers ripped out the astroturf wicket that had been in situ since 1999- with the idea that this will be replaced with turf wickets which the junior and Sunday side will play on in the years to come.
End of season batting, bowling and fielding prizes will be handed out at the end of season dinner to be held at the Moorlands on Saturday 25th November. There are still a few places to be had at this wonderful event, so please contact Yvonne Larkin as soon as possible if you’d like to attend.
A series of photos will be uploaded over the course of the coming weeks to commemorate the 2023 season – watch this space.
1st Team
The 1st team lost an entertaining clash at home to Oxenhope at the beginning of the month, losing by 25 runs meaning that Oxenhope maintained their top-flight status. Tom Wood and Dan Sykes taking the 7 wickets to fall between them, with the highlight of the Oxenhope innings a ridiculous one-handed catch on the boundary by Brad Holt. Despite 46 from Tom with the bat and contributions from Adam, Woody and Albie (23 on first team debut) – we lost wickets at regular intervals meaning that we couldn’t keep up with the run rate and we ran out of overs with one wicket left and 25 runs shy of the 204 target.
A more cut and dried affair the week after in the final away match of the season away at Illingworth. We were bowled out for 85 inside 30 overs after having won the toss on a very hot September day. Brad, Tom and extras the only ones to make double figures. Despite Lewis taking two early wickets to reduce Illingworth to 5 for 2, we only managed to take another couple of wickets- Brad taking his first ever wicket for the 1st team removing Gary Fellows and Dan Sykes chipping in with a scalp, but the match was done inside 20 overs as Illingworth got to their target inside 20 overs.
And so onto the final match of the season, in what turned out to be a comfortable 6 wicket win against Luddendenfoot. Dan Sykes the star of the show with the ball with 8 for 63 with Scoffer and Lewis also taking a wicket each. The two Wood brothers (Tom 75 and Simon 39 not out) were the main contributors with the bat as we reached our target of 190 with 19 overs and 6 wickets left- a nice way to end the season.
2nd Team
A full house for the 2nd team in September starting off with a win against local rivals Warley – their second such win inside a fortnight!! This time it was just league points and local bragging rights at stake and a narrow 9 run win ensured we took the spoils – just. The usual solid start from Greeny and Mark got us to 89 for 2 before Chris anchored the innings with an unbeaten 62. More than handy contributions from Tyson and Jonathan helped accelerate the score to a respectable 204 for 4 off our 45 overs. And it proved to be just about enough as Hampy clean bowled their middle order batter to seal the game, to end the match with for 4 for 44. Tyson also took four wickets with Rob Larkin taking the other two wickets to fall. Special mention to Fin Evans who made his senior debut and fielded really well.
The final home match of the season at home to Greetland turned into the TK show as 79 not out from 49 balls helped us make a total that our visitors simply couldn’t chase. Scores in the thirties from our usual top three gave us a really good platform but Mr Kirby really pushed the score along despite the regular clatter of wickets at the other end as we finished on 204 for 6. Veitchy rolled back the years with the willow taking four for 31 from an eleven over spell as Greetland failed to keep up with the required run rate. Greeny had a catch and a stumping and Rob took a great catch right on the long-on boundary, with Chris taking the final two wickets of the match to fall.
And so, onto Sowerby St Peters for our final match of the season. Another tight game but another win to give us 12 points and send our hosts down to division 1 for the 2024 season. Tyson with 7 for 41 the undoubted star with the ball as we rolled Sowerby for 104. We knew it wouldn’t be an easy chase and so it proved to be. Mike (12) and Tyson (46 in a man of the match performance) were the only players to make double-figure scores as Greg smacked a four to win us the game, with late call up Dave Grundy undefeated at the other end to see us home by two wickets.
Not a bad season lads.
Sunday Side
Just the two matches in September for the Sunday XI and they got the points they needed in those two matches to ensure Sunday division 2 cricket for 2024.
Bizarrely and in defeat against would be champions Low Moor, we played some of our best cricket of the year to only miss out on causing a massive upset by 9 runs. We had our guests at 14 for 4 before a couple of decent partnerships took them past the hundred marker. 124 for 7 soon turned into 145 all out. Greg with 5 for 37 with two wickets each from Waqas and Richard combined with some excellent catches put us in with a chance of causing an upset. It wasn’t to be, but we came very close thanks to our 10th wicket pair of Greg and Matt who put on 35 for the last wicket to get us close, but ultimately no cigar. Chris Parker top scored with 31 with Ajay, Rohit, DG and Matt all making double figure scores. We took seven points from the game and knew that another two from our last game would see us safe.
And we got the job done in the final match of the season. The less said about our batting (save for 17 from Rich Conway) the better, but we’d done our work in the first half by reducing Almondbury to 58 for 4 and then 80 for 6 before some good batting combined with average fielding meant that our hosts for the day made a more than intimidating 216 for 8. It didn’t matter in the end and a fine season from a new team who haven’t relied on people doubling up to get an eleven players out on the pitch.
A big thank you to everyone who has volunteered their services at any point during the 2023 season. Simply put, this season wouldn’t have happened without the goodwill and generous donation of their free time by many people from our cricket club, whether directly or indirectly connected to SBCI.
Winter well and looking forward to the end of season dinner.
P.S – month end reports from April- August 2023 can be read here:-
THANKS EVERYONE
Dave