On a weekend of top performances throughout the club, there were four contenders for the prize of having their picture grace the weekend review. Jamie Denison and Ash Free came close with the bat and Owen Pickles with the ball; but the winner has to be Darren Wilson!
The 2nd XI's encounter with Lightcliffe at Jenny Lane was not one for the neutral! After being inserted at the toss, Lightcliffe scrapped their way to 116-9 in their 50 overs. Sam Kelly was again the stand-out bowler, collecting figures of 4 for 29. At times his genuine pace was just too much for the opposition batters. The pace bowling of Sam and Haris Hussain (2 for 21) was well complimented by an excellent spell of off-spin bowling by Josh Capper (10 overs, 1 for 17) who really strangled the middle period of the innings. However good our bowling was, another key factor was the stodgy wicket, which made stroke play almost impossible. This was evident throughout our reply, with wickets falling as our batters tried to break the deadlock. If ever there was a wicket and a situation made for a display of patience and resolution - this was definitely it and Darren Wilson delivered and then some. In a season when we have been celebrating the high scoring exploits of Kev Mcdermott, Darren managed to produce the defensive equivalent. He faced 130 balls for his score of 36 not out and carried his bat for the entirety of our 46 over innings. His strike rate of 27.69 certainly was not pretty but without it, the twos would not have got over the line. Dan Metcalfe then joined Darren to apply the coup de grace and made sure the seconds got back to winning ways.
The team of the weekend was without a doubt our 4th XI, who chalked up two fantastic wins, fighting back after a few tough weeks where they had borne the brunt of some late selection issues. On Saturday they defeated a strong Pudsey Congs side and then on Sunday in Cawthorne Cup action, they defeated Division B side (and local rivals!) Tong Park Esholt (TPE). Batting first at Fulneck school, Jamie Denison (86) and Ash 'Mr Chairman' Free (51) put on 154 for the first wicket, as the fours went on to post a challenging 191-4. The full scorecard has yet to be posted on line, but my sources tell me that Ash reached his 50 with a straight six back over the bowlers' head! Owen Pickles (6 for 35) then led the attack, claiming six wickets as Congs were dismissed for 144. Still only 16, that was Owen's second five for in senior cricket for the club. Then on Sunday, Andy Norton's men made the short journey down the hill to TPE's main ground in Esholt. After choosing to bat first after winning the toss, TPE were dismissed for 99, including 31 wides (narrowly beating the 25 wides bowled by the 3rd XI in last week's Pool Paper Mills Cup clash with Muff Field!). Our attack was led by Lela Modhwadia (3 for 10) and Tim Joy (2 for 11). Then with the bat Jamie Denison finished off a fantastic weekend for himself with 48, anchoring our chase as we passed the opposition's score with 13 overs remaining. That took him to a combined total of 130 for the weekend. For a team containing 5 players aged 18 or under, it was a fantastic achievement to knock out a team from the division above them.
Meanwhile, at the Belmont Superdome, our 3rd XI made short work of defeating Adel by 8 wickets. The visitors were dismissed for 60, with Will Baker claiming the best figures (3 for 15). Special recognition goes to Alfie Turner, who made his senior debut (alongside brother Louis) and claimed his first senior wicket with the notable scalp of Paul Hannam's nemesis, Ross Booth. Another nice touch was Paul's first wicket of the day, caught by his son Josh! Tawseef Ahmed (33) made sure only 13 overs were required to reach the opposition's total.
The only senior team not to taste victory this weekend was the 1st XI who made the trip over to Birstall. Possibly distracted by thoughts of skipper Dwayne Heke's after match BBQ, they just fell short of posting a challenging total, being dismissed for 189, with 2 overs remaining. Kev Mcdermott again led the way with the bat (43), but just like Jonny Reynolds (38) and Will Kelly (30), he was unable to go on and post the kind of score that would have got us to a more defendable total. Thanks to Mathew Dyson (81*), Birstall knocked off our total for the loss of 4 wickets with 5 overs remaining. Abdullah Khan (2 for 45) was the pick of the Baildon bowlers.
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