Honours even as our 1st and 2nd XIs both faced Undercliffe this weekend. Our 3rd XI were frustrated by rain as they took a draw at Headingley Bramhope while the 4s lost to New Farnley's 3rd team.
Saturday 6th
Undercliffe 1st XI v Baildon 1st XI - Undercliffe win by 61 runs
Match Day sponsor: Reg Nelson
After losing the toss and being asked to field, Kevin McDermott's bowlers initially took some punishment before replying strongly, going from 53-0 to 61-4, Jamin and Umar both taking 3 wickets. Undercliffe's captain then batted well with the lower order to drag them to a respectable score of 165. Our batters will have known that should they bat the 50 overs, they should chase this down. They will be frustrated not to have managed this as a number of players made starts and didn't go on to make a big score. Jonny Reynolds top scored with 28.
Baildon 2nd XI v Undercliffe 2nd XI - Baildon win by 37 runs
Match Day sponsor: Jake Terry
A strong reply by the 2s after last week's painful loss to Methley as they beat Undercliffe at Jenny Lane. Choosing to bat first, Simon saw the chance to put a score on the board. He took it upon himself to do the bulk of the run getting - coming in 33-2 and with three quick wickets then falling, he put pressure back on the bowlers, hitting them back straight and over extra cover. He made 64 with six 4s and three 6s. A frustrating rearguard between Haris and Sam brought the total to 156. Our opening bowlers struggled initially as Undercliffe raced to 50 putting Baildon at risk of being the victim of DLS should rain come. When Stefan Mather came on and took 3-20 with an impressive display of swing bowling he had reversed the equation and now Undercliffe would have to attack. Haris Hussain bowled a long spell and picked up 3 wickets for his hard work, becoming more potent as he slowed down. Josh Capper and Jamie Abbott bowled tidily and with 2 wickets each finished off Undercliffe for 119.
Headingley Branhope 1st XI v Baildon 3rd XI - Draw
A day for the experienced batsman in the 3s as James Butterfield and Paul Hannan shared an opening partnership of 81, of which James scored 38. When Paul fell a few overs later for 57 having hit five 6s, he had put us right on top and, fittingly, given licence to the middle order. Simon Bullock took full advantage as he hit 37 not out and made sure Baildon would take the maximum 5 batting points with 175 runs. When it came to bowl, our young seam attack again impressed with Leo Smalley and Sam Miller both striking early. However the rain came too early in the 33rd over and we were denied a pretty likely win while we had Headingley Bramhope at 80-7.
Baildon 4th XI v New Farnley 3rd XI - New Farnley win by 81 runs
The 4s chalk up another loss as New Farnley's top order made them suffer. Our bowlers worked hard the whole game, Lucas Shaw bowling 13 economical overs, Zeeshan Ahmed took 2-35 from his 11 while Dave Hodgson also bowled a miserly 12 overs with 1-24. James Grimmitt would perhaps have suggested he should have been brought on to bowl earlier as he took a wicket with his only over. Zeeshan and Mansur Ahmed scored 20 and 21 each while Finlay Mccaul got 15 in our batting reply.
Sunday 7th
Baildon 3rd XI v Pudsey St Lawrence XI - Baildon win by 41 runs
Put into bat on a damp wicket, the 3s looked in trouble as their first three wickets fell for 24. Rich Illingworth steadied the ship with 22. Will Baker came in and attacked hard, showing that perhaps aggression was the way to bat on this pitch. Despite falling for just 14, scoring them from just 8 balls put real pressure on the young change bowlers. Louis Turner and Daniel Metcalfe shared a destructive partnership of 62 which was the real difference between the two sides. Louis just fell short of a 50 with 42 and we ended on 146 all out. Pudsey's reply never really got going with our bowlers not giving much chance to score. Sam Miller was disappointed to miss out on a caught and bowled until he realised he'd run the non-striking batsman out with the deflection. He made no mistake with the next opportunity taking a spectacular caught and bowled and two other catches in the field. Parth cleaned up the tail and kept his nerve after ex first teamer James Smith hit his first two balls for 6, bowling their number 11 to ensure he ran out of partners.