This weekend, the senior and junior teams of Baildon CC will take part in 9 fixtures! 4 Saturday league games, 2 Sunday morning junior games and 3 Sunday afternoon cup games. In the middle of all of this, we will be holding a ceremony at Jenny Lane, at 12pm on Sunday, to re-name our scoreboard and dedicate it to the memory of Roger Pawson. Roger's widow Val will be in attendance, hopefully with their sons Chris and Robert, in an event led by our Club President, John Helm.
Roger passed away last year after a lifetime of service to cricket in the Bradford League and to Baildon CC. In his cricketing career, he spent 2 years with Saltaire, 10 with Bankfoot and 12 with Baildon. In that time he scored 6,524 runs and took 496 wickets. His top score was 110 and he was also one of the few bowlers who managed the feat of taking all 10 wickets in a match, with 10 for 32 against Yorkshire Bank. When his on-field career ended, he then worked tirelessly for the club off the field for many years, maintaining his role as treasurer throughout all that ill-health could throw at him.
In the last 12 months we have managed to refurbish our scoreboard with a brand new interior floor being installed along with a new, state of the art score display. When the works were finished, everybody at the club agreed that it would be a fitting tribute to dedicate the building to the memory of a dear colleague.
As I said at the start of this article, this is a big weekend of cricket. The 1st XI take on 4th placed Undercliffe at Jenny Lane on Saturday before the unenviable task of hosting the current Premier League leaders, New Farnley in the Priestley Cup on Sunday. In recent weeks, Dwayne Heke's side have been losing out in close contests, with the only thing missing being a batter turning a 40/50 into an 80 or a bowler taking an extra 2 wickets to get a 5fer. If a couple of individuals can step up to really take charge of a match - anything is possible.
Individuals taking responsibility has been the key theme in the recent revival seen in the 2nd XI, who are currently on a 3 match winning run. George Barker, Darren Wilson, Simon Mcdermott and Stefan Mather have all scored crucial runs, helping to erase the memory of early season. This culminated in Darren's ton last weekend - let's hope he has set the marker high for the rest of his team to follow. We also must not forget the wicket taking exploits of Sam Kelly so far this season, who in midweek gave a timely reminder to the skipper that he can also bat, as he registered his first career 50. Hopefully the team have their passports ready for the long journey to Townville tomorrow.
The 3rd XI are another side in league and cup action this weekend. On Saturday Dave Hodgson's side make the short trip down the hill to Tong Park Esholt's Low Springs ground. We always have close games against our near neighbours, who it has to be said, have not had the best start to their season so far. However, they are a team that are not to be under estimated, as they frequently raise their game when playing Baildon - with their batters seemingly saving their hundreds up for us! Tawquir Ahmed will be looking to add to his recent wicket taking form, whilst Tom Dixon will be looking to keep his devastating strike rate at Liam Livingstone levels! Then on Sunday, the threes welcome Roundhay CC to the Belmont Superdome in the Pool Paper Mills Cup, with a place in the semi-final up for grabs for the winners. This is a repeat of a fixture that has already taken place this year, when we narrowly got over the line thanks to the performances of young guns, Sam Holmes, Will Baker and Louis Turner.
After a 'rest' last weekend, the 4th XI are back in action with a bang, taking on St Chads at home on Saturday and then heading to Shipley Providence on Sunday in the Quarter finals of the Cawthorne Cup. Although St Chads sit rock bottom of Division C without registering a win this season, Andy Norton will hope the fours won't be too rusty after playing less than 30 overs of cricket in two weeks. This then leads into their clash with Prov' on Sunday, with a chance of performing another giant killing act after they put out another Division B side, Tong Park Esholt, in the last round.
Good luck to all our teams and hopefully we will see as many of you as possible up at Jenny Lane on Sunday, to remember Roger Pawson.
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