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First Team Match Reports 2008
Warley v SBCI (Sing when you’re winning) 13/09/2008
SBCI 212 all out;
Warley, more than them for 6.
A long absence from
match reports, due in the main, to lack of interest and a major sulk
because we have been dung is now behind us.
The final game of the
season saw us needing to win to have any chance of winning the
league; the weather, yet again, played it’s part, with constant rain
all week leaving the ground in a treacherous state, however the
ground staff worked overtime to get the ground fit for a prompt
start.
The square was
covered as well as the bowler’s run ups, however this was
mysteriously rearranged by a kind sole, leaving the run ups sodden
and passable only by hovercraft.
Gallas won the toss
and put SBCI in to bat; the dangerous Jamie Summerscales and Vernon
Kaye opened up for the visitors and after a tentative start, Kaye
was dismissed from a vicious seaming, lifting delivery (can’t beat
poetic licence) from the old stager, caught dramatically by Middy at
gully.
The second wicket
fell shortly afterwards as an inswinging delivery accounted for the
number three, old git picking up his second wicket of the day.
In strode “Dollars”
and a third wicket partnership ensued, threatening to take the game
away from Warley.
Greg Keywood
cunningly chose not to run Dalby out, deciding instead to throw the
ball 30 feet over the stand-in keeper to offer a life to the ever
popular former Copley man.
Not to worry, as it
only cost us 16 runs (unlike his father who’s two catches dropped
against Northowram cost approximately 130 runs).
Coco entered the
attack and produced a spell of fine controlled bowling, showing
great bottle to turn the game in Warley’s way.
Wily one found his
catching hands at mid off to snaffle a couple of catches off Jonny
Vegas and wickets began to tumble regularly and then the main wicket
of Jamie Summerscales fell, taken smartly by the cunningly placed
skipper art deep mid wicket.
Runs continued to
flow however as SBCI batted in cavalier fashion; Middy returned to
the attack to boost his bowling average and was soon rewarded with a
sharp caught and bowled, then bowling Punda leaving SBCI 9 down.
News had already
broken that title rivals Booth had been called off, therefore a win
would yield the title.
The final wicket fell
as Ben Summerscales attempted to put Middy into the car park; a
towering drive went to long off where the cool 15 year old Greg
Keywood took a stunning catch to give the hosts the opportunity of
10 points, provided they overhauled a challenging 212 runs.
Warley’s innings
began with yet another opening partner for Pinhead; this time The
Conestar opened up with Noley and for the first time in a while, we
had a solid opening partnership.
50 went up before
Pinhead was caught in two, possibly three minds, as to where to
smash the non turning off spin of Ben Summerscales, resulting in him
being comprehensibly bowled for what turned out to be a top score of
36.
In strode Captain
Fantastic and the score quickly moved on to 90 before Gallas was
caught at backward point and then Conehead quickly followed for a
well crafted 30 something, to leave Warley on 93 for 3.
A rebuilding job from
theWily old Pro, the now out of love SuperTed and latterly by the
Doctor saw Warley edging ever closer to their target.
Roared on by a
capacity crowd, including a contingent from Booth, were kept on the
edge of their seats as Oatesy fell to Jamie Summerscales and then
Ted went to the returning Ollie Benson.
The target was
reduced by the enigmatic Jimmy (praise be to Alan) and Raws as 9
runs were required from 12 balls. The Doctor managed to raise the
tension by taking just 2 runs from the penultimate over and then
getting out leg before off the final ball of the over.
In strode Kev Keywood,
under no pressure at all, for a 15 year old who is still to get his
first run in the senior side, as we tried to win the league with six
balls to spare; fortunately for him, he was at the non striking end,
so he could watch the final throes of the season unfold.
Jimmy Sarwar on
strike, needing eight runs to win the league, seven to tie (which
would be enough), six balls to go.
I am, at this stage,
feeling physically sick, Dave Turner is on the verge of a coronary
and Craig Brennan can’t keep still. Middy is taking calls from
everyone on his mobile, the only calm person is the man famous for
serving bargain buckets at KFC.
Up steps Ben
Summerscales with the first ball of the final over, a deathly hush
descends over Paradise Lane and Jimmy calmly smashes the ball miles
into, over and beyond the school yard for an imperious 6.
I am almost in tears
at this stage, one to tie, two to win, five balls left.
The field comes in,
Greg can’t stop shaking; Ben Summerscales bowls, Jimmy advances,
smash, four, game over!!
Mass pitch invasion
as Jimmy is crushed by all his team mates; champions.
We don’t do things in
half measures and this game sums up our season; a fantastic effort
from all concerned.
The league table
doesn’t lie; we have won as many games as all of our title rivals
and lost the fewest number, including one more rained off game than
the rest.
If we could catch, we
would have won the league by the end of July but what’s the point.
You can’t beat days
like this; yesterday was our Cup Final and we did the business.
Congratulations to
all concerned in what has been a roller coaster of a season; think
my retirement has been put on hold for a year( or 2).
Championees,
championees, ole ole ole!!
Warley v
SBCI 28/06/08
Another wonderful summer’s day,
with gale force winds blowing straight down the ground greeted us as
we arrived to face local rivals SBCI.
New signing Shaun Charnley made his
debut after signing from Bradshaw; this was the second time we had
signed the Halifax League legend, the first occasion saw him
bottling it and going to Bradshaw, however on this occasion he
actually gets to play for us.
It’s Saturday, so guess what? Yes,
we lose the toss again and are asked to bat on a track that looks
quite useful for the bowlers to say the least!
The usual suspects opened up again,
with slogger Nolan racing to 27 before holing out to Benson; the
first wicket putting on 48 useful runs.
All the batsmen found the going
tough against some good seam and swing bowling from Robinson, who
was ably supported at the other end by the off spin of Ben
Summerscales.
Middy perished for 13 from 36 balls
and Ted’s miserable run of form continued, amassing just 2 from 11
deliveries before falling to Summerscales.
Questions are now being asked of
Ted as to why the recent slump in form? Some “experts” in the
dressing room are linking this to an upturn in his social life; I
for one couldn’t possibly comment but a one to one counselling
session with Chris Marsh has been booked to see if he can get to the
bottom of the problem (literally!!)
Mr Oates hung around with young
Akky, managing to add just 8 from 34 balls, again emphasising how
difficult conditions were to bat in.
When Cakky was 5th out, he had
compiled a dogged 52 runs from 110 balls, hitting 5 boundaries on
the way, showing again great maturity and application for such a
young player.
The innings was given some late
order momentum by Dave Brier’s cameo 18, including one huge six and
Craig Brennan offering valuable support. Some players are now
wondering just how long he can continue to bat so low down the
order, when clearly he has the ability to get that left leg out of
the way.
Others above him take note.
A final total of 147 for 8
certainly gave the Warley bowlers something to bowl at in very
trying conditions.
Cast your mind back to Northowram,
where conditions were slightly on the windy side; well today was
worse and as ever, the queue to bowl at the top end downhill
downwind was a lengthy one!!
As at Northowram, the skipper had
choice of ends and it was left to that old bloke to do the donkey
work from the bottom end, uphill, again, into the wind, again.
A tight start from both resulted in
the early breakthrough, Middy removing the dangerman Jamie
Summerscales for nought.
A second wicket partnership of 63
between Kaye and Potts gave the home side momentum without ever
really looking settled; comments from our wicket keeper including
“more chips than McDonalds” and “more edge than a broken p***pot”
came at regular intervals, backed up with similar comments from a
frustrated Keywood who, after being swept by Kaye unleashed the
“tour ball” to the great delight of those lucky enough to have
witnessed the delivery in similar circumstances at Workington.
Keywood was replaced by Johnny
Vegas, not for disciplinary reasons, just knackered (it was very
windy) and as at Northowram produced instant results, with JV
removing the dangerous Kaye for 39.
Next to go was Potts, removed by
the skipper with the score on 69 for 3 (nice position to be in!!)
leaving two new men at the crease; the athletic looking Chris Dalby
and another lad who had to have his initials on his sweatshirt in
case he forgot who he was.
“Dollars” looked in fine form,
clearly relishing the freedom of not having the responsibility of
captain on his shoulders after a team bonding incident in Sowerby
Bridge, allegedly.
His ability to play and miss at
almost every delivery was a sight to behold and somehow he managed
to hang in there for a fourth wicket partnership of 23 with Wood.
(That bloke with his initials on had long since gone, can’t remember
his name)
At 102 for four RSPCA were in the
box seat needing 46 from 12 overs but an inspirational spell from
Coco and in particular Middy resulted in 6 wickets falling for 8
runs in just four overs.
Amongst all the mayhem there was
again time for a display of how not to catch a cricket ball, this
time by Pinhead who managed to shell a dolly off a less than
appreciative CB; unlike Trigger’s gaff a couple of weeks ago, it
didn’t cost us the 10 points.
Another fine victory for the ever
improving first team; next week sees us at the halfway stage, two
points from top and on a bit of a roll.
We are all
looking forward to the return of Barry Chuckle and his sausage legs;
onwards and upwards.
Back to Top
WARLEY v NORTHOWRAM 14/06/2008
One change from last week’s fixture
saw the return of the skipper , with Jimmy Sarwar returning to the
second team, young Keywood retaining his place in the side after
making his first team debut alongside his old man the previous week.
Warley were asked to bat first on a
well used track and the opening pair of Pinhead and Cakky and for
the second consecutive week compiled a century partnership.
Nolan displaying some of his now
trademark Halifax League style shots clubbed his way to 68 with 6
fours and 4 sixes before falling to AG or is it UG?
Enter the skipper who scratched
around for an uncomfortable 10 before he became the first of four
victims for “The Power”, Phil Taylor, who bowled some canny darts
during a seventeen over spell finishing with 4 for 65 (good arrows).
Young Akky was next to perish for a
patient 79 from 102 balls maintaining his tremendous start to the
season, before Ted continuing in his fluent manner compiling 12 from
22 balls became wicket number four.
So from a promising start, we had
gone from 132 for 0 to 179 for 4 and were in danger of posting a
below par score on a fast scoring ground.
Enter the spin king and the wily
old pro who compiled a fifth wicket partnership of 63 in quick
style, Mr Oates finishing on 33 not out from only 18 balls,
including 3 sixes and a four, while Trigger at the other end finally
proved to us all that he has mastered the art of playing spin with a
well crafted 24 from 27 balls. No sign of any demons and not even
did he get hit in the box as seems compulsory every time Dave
strides out to bat.
There were just 2 deliveries left
for our mid season signing from Elland, Dave Brier, to face.
Dave is used to playing on much
bigger grounds than this, so expectations were high for the big
hitter.
How he wasn’t out first ball is a
mystery, only the umpire, sponsored by Stevie Wonder, knows the
answer to that one; however his reprieve was short lived as he
failed to dispatch the final ball out of the ground and was caught
on the edge for a duck; welcome to the small grounds in the Halifax
League Dave!
The innings finished on a
competitive 246 for 6 and the chase was on for the table topping
Northowram.
With a force ten gale blowing
downhill, the bowlers were queuing up to bowl from the top end and
surprise, surprise, the old man of the side drew the short straw,
bowling uphill into the wind.
A tight opening spell from Gallas
and Keywood yielded a mere 20 runs from the first 12 overs, with the
attractive looking Richard Moore in particular, smashing the ball to
the edge of the square on numerous occasions.
A change in the bowling saw Coco
brought on at the top end, yes, that’s right, downhill, downwind,
while the old git was still chugging away uphill. This brought an
instant breakthrough from the hairy one, dismissing Metcalf for 38,
with the score on 68.
Leach and then Horsfall went in
quick succession, snared by the old bloke, still bowling uphill and
into the wind, which brought “Parky” to the crease.
An instant request from Keywood to
put 9 men behind square on the offside in an area covering 15 yards
was ignored by the skipper as Parky began his cutting, slogging and
missing as only he knows how.
At the other end, the fluent Moore
had raced on to 31 from 26 overs when he put himself out of his
misery by running himself out, top knock.
The bowlers kept chipping away,
making inroads into the Northowram batting, whilst all the time
keeping them behind the required run rate. When Parky was dismissed
for an interesting 47, the run chase was virtually over, despite
some lusty blows by skipper UG.
There was just time left for Marshy
to show his catching skills by dropping “The Power” and then the
very next ball, Stevie Wonder failed to see a stumping when UG was
closer to being run out rather than stumped, leaving Warley one
wicket short of securing their first 10 point haul of the season.
The innings closed with Northowram
on 188 for 9, Coco taking 3 for 39 and the old bloke bowling through
(uphill, into the wind etc) finishing with 5 for 108.
A top performance, knocking
Northowram off top spot and pushing the Paradise Lane men back into
contention.
RSPCA are the next in line in what
should be a keenly contested local derby.
Pass that man some radox!!
Back to Top
JER LANE v WARLEY 8th
JUNE WARLEY’S CUP DREAM OVER
This last eight tie ended in
disappointment as we fell 12 runs short chasing down an impressive
total of 244.
Returning to the fold after the
debacle against Sowerby Bridge was skipper William Gallas, Andrew
Oates and John Rawson.
Duncan Ritchie was a late call up
after the league refused to bow down on their stance over the Joe
Lumb side having first call over Chris Atkinson, the previous day’s
centurion. Double standards me thinks and the league need to address
this issue; one rule for Bradshaw and Mytholmroyd, another for
others.
On a glorious, baking hot day,
proceedings got off to the usual start with Warley losing the toss
and being asked to bowl first on a shirt fronter.
Midwood and Keywood opened the
attack; surprisingly the latter being asked to bowl uphill into the
breeze.
The Jer Lane openers rode their
luck in the early stages, Keywood beating the outside edge on
numerous occasions and adopting his favoured double tea pot, head
shaking posture.
An early chance went down, Turnip
being fined heavily in the process as he reached the “maximum” of
£1.50 in that incident alone. The travelling circus nearby have now
called him up to take the place of their existing juggler.
This set the tone for the rest of
the innings, with a further 5 chances put down and all the run
scorers in Jer Lane’s innings had at least one life. In contrast the
ground fielding was excellent on an outfield that could, at best, be
described as challenging.
With 15 overs remaining, Jer Lane
were on 120 for 2 and with wickets in hand for the final push,
amassed a further 124 from the final overs, taking their total to a
challenging but not impossible 244.
Warley’s innings got off to a poor
start with Pinhead, having smashed the first ball to the cover point
boundary for four, dismissed by a stunning catch at second slip;
contrasting fortunes to our fielding and again this seemed to lift
the home side.
The skipper strode to the wicket to
courteous greetings from the fielders and set about building a
platform in an attempt to chase down the total. Middy looked fluent
in the early part of his innings, whilst in contrast Raws struggled
to dominate the bowling and was eventually dismissed, played on, for
12.
Super Ted joined the skipper and
put together a decent partnership until Jer Lane introduced Telly
Tubby from the reactor end. Sponsored by Bell Tents, the canny left
armer managed to baffle our premier batsmen with a combination of
left arm hand grenades and donkey droppers.
Without breaking sweat Fred Elliott
dismissed Super Ted, Middy and then, after a couple of lusty blows,
Duncan in a match winning performance.
Warley were now looking at a run
rate of 8 an over and despite a promising partnership between the
Spinmaster and Oatesy, wickets continued to tumble, making the task
ever more difficult.
The greatest exponent of the “left
leg out of the way” technique perished doing exactly that, getting
caught on the long off boundary. Turnip’s day was summed up when he
tried to smash his bat to pieces in the dressing room and couldn’t
manage that either; last seen chasing the circus!!
By this stage the locals had
surfaced and to quote Pinhead, someone had turned on the “mong
magnet”.
The final rights were issued when
Coco, clearly not trusting his partner to see the task through,
missed a straight one and was bowled with Warley 12 runs short.
On to Northowram where the Brian
Maycock fan club can look forward to a rousing reception.
Bring
it on Roy.
Back to Top
WARLEY v SOWERBY BRIDGE
07/06/2008
Another dull damp day welcomed our
visitors Sowerby Bridge, captained by the son of that bloke with bad
nasal problems.
Warley were without skipper Gallas,
so in to the breach for his game as captain stepped Dodders, fresh
from his nature walk down at that caravan site from last week.
Completely bucking the trend of the
usual Warley skipper, we won the toss and elected to bat on a rather
tired looking track. Before the groundsman throws his keys in
(again), this was by choice, as there was a magnificently under
prepared new strip at the side of the one we elected to play on!
A solid opening stand of 126
between the imperious Cakky and that other opener was broken when
Nolan was undone by the “spin” of Whitehill for a well composed 58.
The master of spin strode to the
crease and he nudged around for 3 runs until he came face to face
with the off spin of Whitehill. What then followed was possibly the
worst six balls I have ever witnessed; ball1, played and missed;
ball 2, played and missed; ball 3 wild attempt at slog sweep,
missed; ball 4, ditto; ball 5, we have lift off, a massive 6 out of
the ground towards Blousey’s house, ball 6, clean bowled!!
Fantastic entertainment, however
the demons remain.
In strode Super Ted, then out ran
Super Ted; young Akky at the other end clearly thought that he
looked out of touch and called him for a quick single, turned his
back, sent him back and the rest as they say is history. Just for
the records though, I Shaw, run out 0.
With the wily one on a golf trip,
Bernie was promoted to number 5, however his stay was brief and from
Warley being in control at 126 for 0, the scoe had then limped to
155 for 4.
Jimmy Sarwar, returning to 1st
team action, then joined Chris Atkinson at the crease.
The pair complimented each other
nicely, with Jimmy playing some typically wristy shots and
displaying some excellent running between the wickets.
As the overs ticked down, Cakky was
nudging ever closer to the milestone of a maiden 1st team
100. The crowd, made up mainly of Atkinson’s and family relatives,
were on tenterhooks. In the final over, Chris was on 97 not out and
on strike; singles were exchanged on each of the first 5 balls of
the over, leaving Chris on 99 not out with one ball to face; what
drama!!
The final delivery of the game saw
Chris drive the ball down the ground for a single and with a leap of
delight and a punch of the air, the celebrations began.
This, I feel, is the first of many
to come. His temperament for one so young is exemplary; he displays
excellent concentration levels and is now developing the range of
his shots; a tremendous role model for others to follow (young and
old). Top effort Chris.
Amidst all the emotion, the second
innings began with the stand-in captain wondering if the fielding
performances of recent weeks had been laid to rest.
Surprise to say, it looked as if
they had; I wonder if there is a theme developing here?
Warley opened up with Robo-Cop from
the school end and the old git, uphill from the Maypole end.
Early inroads were made by Brennan
and Keywood, leaving Sowerby Bridge on 40 for 3 and Warley were on
top.
There then followed a stand of 74
between opener Tim (bloody nice chap) Helliwell and the dangerous
Lee Smith, before Monty removed the former courtesy of a stunning,
running, overhead catch by Craig Brennan, much to his and our
amazement (refer previous match reports re: catching).
There then followed another
stubborn stand between Smith and Teen Wolf until the skipper
introduced himself, eventually, into the attack.
Some fine Warley pressure resulted
in Smith being bowled for a fine 64 by Turner who then removed the
next batsmen for a duck, leaving the game finely poised with ‘Bridge
on 182 for 6, requiring a further 42 from 6 overs.
There then followed what can only
be described as a pathetic decision by the umpires to take the
players from the field of play.
The game had been played in drizzly
conditions for the previous 30 minutes or so, without complaints
from players or officials, however one of the officials and she will
remain nameless, decided she couldn’t see because the rain was
getting on to her spectacles. Quite where it had been falling in the
previous half hour is beyond me, however to the annoyance of both
sets of players we were taken off the field.
Overs were being lost and runs
scored during the enforced absence and then remarkably, with the
rain still falling and one over to go, the umpires called us back on
to the pitch.
Unsurprisingly, the Sowerby Bridge
players weren’t too keen, especially Rujjer’s lad, as they now
needed 15 off the final over.
Calm was restored with both sides
refusing to take to the field and the umpires pulling the stumps out
of the ground to call time.
A great shame that the game was
spoiled by a complete lack of common sense.
Warley 5 points
Sowerby Bridge 5 points.
TRIANGLE v WARLEY
SATURDAY 31st MAY 2008
click
here to see the guest player
Picture the scene; a warm
summer’s day, a stream filled with trout and grayling flowing gently
through idyllic woodland, heron flying elegantly across the landscape.
The perfect place for a picnic, even a caravan site; unfortunately
some k**bhead decided to place a cricket field down there and call it
Triangle!!
Yes, welcome to Triangle
Cricket Club, venue for Warley’s latest Premier Division clash, home
to some legendary cricketers of our time, including the ever popular
Roger, pronounced Rujjer, as if holding your nostrils together, Smith
and everyone’s favourite Tony (YMCA) Sykes; at least his mum likes
him, we think.
To the action; overnight ran
had moistened the track but despite a tinge of green, Warley’s skipper
for the day, William Gallas, had already decided ahead of the toss
that were we to win the toss (fat chance) Warley would bat.
Gallas strode into the
dressing room to announce that we were batting; no surprise though
because “Rujjer”, remember to hold your nose, had won the toss and
stuck us in.
Kurtis Whippey and Rujjer
opened the bowling with the former steaming in like a latter day Joel
Garner, producing some useful deliveries to Pinhead who had decided,
as senior opener, to take all of the strike from Kurtis while Cakky at
the other end decided to feed off the rotund, sweatbanded, military
medium right arm filth and despatch with glee to the boundary; smart
move Pinhead.
The early breakthrough was
achieved when Whippey convinced Nolan to play round a straight one and
clean bowled the opener, still rueing his luck at not having faced a
single ball from Ruj.
In strode Gallas and a
useful partnership developed between the two until the skipper played
one of his trademark late cuts and was bowled leg stump by Jack
Gledhill, who had replaced that bloke with really bad sinusitis;
Gallas departed for a well crafted 34.
Ted came and went (he seemed
to have a lot on his mind!!) and then another useful partnership
developed between Cakky and W.O.P.
Young Akky reached his
second 50 of the season in an assured manner but then perished trying
to force the pace late on, leaving Mr Oates to craft his way to 52 not
out. Support was thin on the ground until Ironside, aka Dave Bleasby,
recently retired, then promoted back into the first team, provided a
couple of lusty blows, including a six, to bolster the score to 197
for six, innings closed.
Given the size of this
“ground”, such a total is about 350 under par for this venue, so
defending the total would need a Herculean effort.
Cast your mind back briefly
to the Mytholmroyd game if you dare!!
Well, I’m afraid the second
half of this game was similar. A number of chances were put down at
important phases of various batsmen’s innings, which ultimately proved
costly; catches, as they say, win matches.
Despite this, a gutsy bowling
performance, from particularly Midwood and former Triangle
favourite Dave Turner (Doddy), almost managed to turn the game round
for Warley.
Inroads were made into the
fragile looking Triangle batting and when dangerman Cavalier was
dismissed it was very much game on. A brief cameo from Kurtis Whippey
then steered the game back in Triangle’s direction; he too was then
dismissed which brought Rujjer to the crease. With all the elegance of
a man using a pick axe to bat with, he was soon dismissed by his
opposite number and was politely requested to return to the changing
rooms and send in the next batter please!!
The game finished in the
last over, with Triangle wanting 5 to win.
Expensive midweek signing J
W Dean was joined at the crease by young Kersh, who proceeded to swipe
the second ball of the over into the river for six; game over.
Ah well; back to my fishing
rod and binoculars. I wonder if there’s a turn on in this lovely
clubhouse?
Back to Top
Warley v Mytholmroyd; Monday
26th May
An unchanged Warley side
went into this Bank Holiday fixture still unbeaten and full of
confidence after Saturday’s comfortable victory over Bradshaw.
Unusually Warley won the
toss and opted to bat first on a track that looked full of runs.
An opening stand of 58 from
Bottomley and young Akky was broken by Foster when the latter got a
nick and was caught behind by the irritating Royd keeper Barratt for a
stylish 25.
The Pinster continued on his
merry way until first change bowler Mahmood got one to nip back,
keeping slightly low to peg back middle stump, having contributed 37.
This paved the way for the
entrance of Trigger Marsh fresh from vomiting in the shower; this is
not a pre-match ritual, merely Dave’s way of celebrating “Bank holiday
Sunday”. Having a power hour on red wine is not recommended!!
With eyes like smashed
plates, Marshy missed the first delivery by a yard, then the second
ball crashed into his crown jewels much to the merriment of everyone.
Twenty one players, two umpires and a handful of spectators were bent
double with laughter; one player was bent double in excruciating
pain!!
Amazingly Marsh gained his
composure and went on to share in stands of 65 with his soon to be
brother-in-law, Super Ted and 66 with Mr Warley to leave the home side
in a strong position at 215 for 4 with a good number of overs to spare
and wickets in hand.
Sadly the middle order
wilted under some accurate bowling from Rashid and an excellent second
spell from Jack Earle, losing 6 wickets for only 41 runs, Trigger
being 7th man out for a magnificent 92 but still looking
extremely ill.
The innings closed on 257
for 9 with pads flying all over the dressing room as wickets tumbled
rapidly, the total probably 30 to 40 less than expected.
With the words of Captain
Midwood fresh in everyone’s mind from the half time team talk,
particularly with reference to what was required from us all as
fielders, Warley then proceeded to turn in the worst fielding
performance of the season which, backed up by some indifferent
bowling, left Mytholmroyd always in control of the run chase and they
reached their target of 258 with 11 balls to spare for the loss of
just four wickets.
Bright spots in the field; a
superb full length diving catch from Middy which surprise, surprise,
was still not good enough to take the fielding mark off Marshy, who
snaffled a catch off a full toss from Monty, delivered in true Mr
Oates style.
No other bright notes to
comment on in the second half performance, however the fines kitty was
suitably boosted by £1.50 per man and next season’s tour to St Kitts
could be paid for by August at the current rate!!
Looking on the bright side,
we can all look forward to the trip to Triangle on Saturday, followed
by a trip to the outback that is Jer Lane in the cup on Sunday; happy
days!!
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Bradshaw v Warley,
Saturday 24th May 2008
On a bleak and blustery day
at Bradshaw, Warley proved to be far too strong for an under strength
Bradshaw team who were without the influential Si Collins and Wayne
Cotton and also missing “Barraclough” who once again was risking his
life looking after some of Britain’s most dangerous criminals.
Warley lost the toss (again)
but were surprisingly asked to bat on a pitch that looked as if it
could deteriorate over the course of the day.
Bottomley and Atkinson (jnr)
set about the Bradshaw attack with gusto and after dispatching the
unimpressive Shannon for two sixes, Pinhead tried to repeat the dose
but perished for a brisk 31.
In strode retro Dave,
replacing the unavailable John Rawson and he and young Akky continued
to hammer the bowling to all parts.
A milestone for Akky was at
last achieved after threatening on numerous occasions when he reached
his first ever first team 50 and it was met by rapturous applause from
his team mates; tears to the eye stuff; just a shame cone head wasn’t
there to witness it. The lad has undoubted talent and is blossoming
into a fine cricketer, allied by the fact that he is level headed
should ensure that he goes a long way in the game; well done Chris.
Meanwhile at the other end,
another Chris, Dave, was also reaching 50 but then he moored up and
let Akky overtkake him before he eventually fell to a far from
complimentary Shannon for 72.
Super Ted entered the fray
to join their kid but Marshy opted not to stay for long and departed
shortly after for a fine 66.
A lull in proceedings then
ensued before Ted played a vertical drive which “held up in the wind”
as he fell for 34 and then a flurry of runs from Midwood and AJO sent
the total to 297 for four, innings closed.
In the second half Bradshaw
were never in the hunt, however if “Squeaky” had batted higher, then
Warley’s total could have been in jeopardy (my a*s*.)
Old man Keywood was seen
wheeling out a piano after 12 overs; his participation in the game
obviously a big doubt, as the rest of the bowlers were rotated in an
attempt to achieve wickets.
Monty and Mr Oates were
spinning webs at either end, with the latter throwing down his
customary wicket taking delivery first up as Marshy held on to a waist
high full toss at deep backward square and thus claiming yet another
fielding mark.
Wickets were shared out
between Monty, AJO, Middy and Coco. I don’t think Turnip took a wicket
but at this stage of the game the attention was turning to the piano
player who was turning out a full array of Les Dawson and Reg Varney
classics to the delight of a packed Bradshaw crowd.
Bradshaw’s innings closed on
205 for 7, with the impressive Alan Ball undefeated on 70 ish.
A good 9 points for Warley
who maintained their unbeaten start to the season.
Fines were then announced in
the usual manner, with Bernie offering to set up a direct debit for
£1.50 per week.
Onwards to Paradise Lane for
Monday’s clash with Mytholmroyd.
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Saturday 17th May WARLEY V SOUTHOWRAM
Two changes from the side that convincingly beat Booth
last week; Nolan Bottomley and John Rawson replacing Chris Marsh, away
on a “jolly-up” with his rugger friends at Thirsk races and James
“Chinky” Whitworth, who having made his first team debut last week,
found himself fast-tracked into the Sunday side.
Inevitably Warley lost the toss and were asked to bat
on a track that looked as if it might offer some assistance to the
Southowram seam attack.
After a cautious start, Warley’s openers, Bottomley and
Atkinson (jnr) started to dominate the opening attack of Hussain and
Bellfield, with Chris Atkinson in particular taking a liking to the
bevy of leg side deliveries on offer.
After an opening stand of 31, Warley lost their first
wicket. A juicy half volley outside off stump from Bellfield was
dispatched straight to short extra cover by Bottomley and snaffled by
the ample frame of Neil Harvey (no relation).
“Pinhead” was clearly frustrated with himself and was
heard to mutter the words “oh bother”.
A yard either side (make that four yards) of Harvey
and Nolan would have been adding to his tally, as it was he was
dismissed for 8.
In the very next over, Atkinson was dismissed for a
stylish 27, when he got a feint nick off Hussain to the keeper,
leaving Warley on 35 for 2.
In strode the in-form Super Ted, Ian Shaw and he duly
dispatched Hussain to the boundary second ball with a trademark cover
drive for four.
Unfortunately, that was the end of the action; with
Warley on 40 for 2 after ten overs, the heavens opened and no further
play was possible; match abandoned 2 points each.
Next week’s fixture, away to Bradshaw, promises to be a
cracker, watch this space for the match report.
Anon Emus.
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