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Senior Cricket
A very damp end to the season saw virtually the last two weeks of the season wiped out because of the inclement weather, but all three teams secured their spots in their respective divisions for the 2026 season. We did see some cricket however, and always nice to be beating Triangle and Booth, regardless of the time of year.
We made a bit of history in the final game of the Sunday team season, by picking the first ever father, son and daughter trio in the same team to represent SBCI. We’ll ignore the fact that we didn’t get anywhere near the pitch to play, but congratulations to Mark, Jack and Libby Fellows.
1st Team
September was only scheduled to be a short month cricket-wise but ended up even shorter than planned – just 82.4 overs in total to be exact – for the 1st XI. The final two weeks of the season, away at Warley & Elland and then at home to Clayton, were abandoned – in the latter case without a ball bowled. At Elland, we had just about managed to start with a view to a 25 over game, as skipper Alex Scholefield took the solitary wicket to fall after having won the toss. Further rain, at Warley’s 29/1 off 7.4 overs, put paid to any hopes of completing a game, and consigned our hosts, and former neighbours, to relegation.
Fortunately, no such fate befell us this season as we managed to do enough to finish 37 points clear of the relegation zone, though disappointingly only in ninth place. Our final completed match of the season, on the first weekend of September, ended in victory, as it had in 2024.
We hosted Triangle, won the toss, and elected to bowl first. An early breakthrough wasn’t forthcoming, but Alex did get us on the board once the score read 52. From here, wickets fell at regular intervals, as Tom Wood took an excellent 4 for 33, and was well supported by Chris Dalby (2/40) and Arun CK (2/26). 129/3 became 146/6, and then 178 all out as we improved throughout the innings and took our chances in the field.
The chase didn’t begin in great fashion as Tom was first out with the score at just 11, and then Simon Wood soon followed to make it 24/2. However, that was the end of the wicket taking for our visitors, as Rhys Newman hit 73 not out from 85 balls, in partnership with Chris Dalby, whose 82 not out from 83 balls included 6 sixes. It was another fantastic partnership from the pair, who had compiled a mammoth one of 279, also unbroken, earlier in the season at Queensbury. We reached a winning score of 180/2 off 30.4 overs to ensure a 12-point win over Triangle and secure our Premier Division status for next season.
As another season closes, it was a case of ‘so near yet so far’ as we reached a first Parish Cup Final since 2012 but ultimately came out on the wrong side of the result. The league form was not as good as we had hoped for but still included some great games and memorable results. Here’s to a more consistent league season, and going one better in the cup, in 2026
2nd Team
A fantastic performance with ball and then bat away at Booth for our penultimate away match of the season saw us take 12 points and away from the relegation scrap at the bottom of the table. Captain Illingworth won the toss for the first time in a long time and elected to bowl. Booth got off to a flyer and were 45 for no wicket inside 10 overs when Rob took the first of his five wickets for the afternoon- two down to sharp catches taken at mid-off by Naman. Rob had begun his spell earlier than anticipated when Simon went off the field with a calf/hamstring strain. 45 for 0 very quickly turned into 96 for 6. Rob with another three wickets -one courtesy of a running catch with the ball coming over his shoulder by Jonathan. Tyson had also been in the wars, taking a nasty blow on the wrist, but also got in on the act, Mark taking a great one-handed diving catch to dismiss the dangerous Sharkey. A 96-run partnership then followed as chances were missed (and a few tempers frayed) but Tyson returned to dismiss the Booth number 8 and 10 with the score on 204, with Ikhlaq taking the final wicket to fall with the score on 223. Definitely a below par score on a small ground, but we could and possibly should have been chasing around 70-80 runs fewer.
In the end, it mattered not a jot as we cantered home by 8 wickets with just over 8 overs of our innings left. Mark the undoubted star of the show with an amazing an unbeaten 138 off 105 balls. An opening stand of 153 with Jonathan set the tone early and we never looked like we were going to struggle to reach the target. 33 off 15 balls from Tyson swung the match even more into our favour and even when he was dismissed, possibly aiming for 6 sixes in an over, DK (10 not out) saw it through with Mark appropriately finishing off the match with two consecutive boundaries. A day to remember and with other results going our way, we finished the day in a much healthier position (table wise) than when we’d started it.
Our final home match of the season against Triangle was abandoned after the first innings due to the rain, but the points we picked up whilst batting combined with Great Horton Park Chapel failing to win, ensured our position in the top division for 2026. On a green looking wicket and with plenty of overhead cloud cover, we lost the toss (again) and were unsurprisingly asked to bat first. Mark, as he has done so many times this summer led the way with 52 with useful contributions from Dan, TK and Mike. Bonus points were the order of the day and we comfortably got passed 150 to give us 2 and were just two runs short of 175 which would have given us another bonus point. Noah was the last man, run out as we tried to get Simon (a run a ball 16) back on strike for the final over. As it turned out, the rain had the final say and the game was abandoned without a further ball being bowled.
The 2025 season came to a shuddering halt and without a ball being bowled as the game at Warley/Elland was called off at the earliest opportunity in the morning with absolutely no chance of a game getting underway.
Another season secured in the Premier Division for our second team and yet another Crossley Shield semi-final represents a fantastic 2025.
Sunday Side
A disappointing start to the month for the Sunday team as we suffered a heavy loss in a rain affected match against Crossflatts CC, knowing that a win of any kind would see us safe. Libby Fellows made her senior debut for the club. We took a wicket with the first ball of the match, Ajay, rearranging the furniture of the Crossflatts opening batter. Jack, not to be outdone did the same in his first over and our guests for the day were 3 for 2. A series of good partnerships had us on the backfoot and a hefty rain delay meant that when we came back out, a reduced match of 30 overs a side would be taking place, but the conditions meant that the ball needed to be dried after every delivery and gripping the ball proved to be difficult. To that end, Crossflatts made the most of this and rattled on at over 6 runs an over meaning that we’d have little chance of reaching the 197 we needed for victory. Skipper Collins had a couple of wickets and Jack returned at the end of the innings to take the 5th wicket. It was a sorry state of affairs with the bat in reply as only Robin, Bill and Ajay reached double figures meaning that we’ll have to wait 7 days to ensure our safety. Whilst we were the architects of our own downfall, Sameer got a dubious decision and Tony was LBW to one that shot right along the floor, despite having pitched halfway down the track. That’s cricket, I guess!
A week later and our safety was guaranteed without a ball being bowled as a washed-out game against Oakworth meant 8 points were picked up for an abandoned game and therefore we wouldn’t be occupying either of the two relegation spots come 6:30 on 21st September.
There was no play either in our final match of the season as Lightcliffe’s wicket had failed to recover sufficiently from the 15-hour downpour we’d seen on the Saturday. A disappointing, yet not unexpected way to finish the season.
A 30-point cushion between the Sunday side and the drop zone, but a bigger gap between us and the teams in the top 5. We’ll be looking to challenging the promotion places come April next year.
Junior Cricket
The end of season junior presentation was held up at the club on 12th September and was extremely well attended by players and parents alike. A big congratulations to all of our prize winners on the night and to Olivia Thomas for handing out the prizes, just a couple of days before the Metro Bank One Day Cup final- a game which Yorkshire women went onto win with Liv playing a starring role in the victory.
Social Events
End of Season Dinner
Our Treasurer and Secretary are now putting the final touches onto the end of season dinner with payment, menu and music choices now due. This is being held at Southwood on Birdcage Lane in Halifax on Saturday 8th November. Please do not hesitate to contact Dave (07837 295425) if you would like to attend.
The end of Season Dinner is open to anyone linked to the club- players (including juniors who have played senior cricket in 2025), partners, junior Mum’s and Dad’s, husbands, wives and anyone who may have had a previous connection to SBCI.
Dave and Lewis