Saturday, 21st April 2012
Silsden 1st XI v Menston (Home)
With the mandatory 10 days of heavy rain prior to the start of the cricket season it looked unlikely that there would be any cricket played at all, particularly with the ominous forecast for Saturday afternoon. After sterling work however by the ground staff and some luck with the weather a 35 over match was made possible starting at 2.30pm. After losing the toss it was unsurprising that the Menston skipper elected to have a bowl on what was an extremely green, soft and damp track with plenty of grass! With loads of early season enthusiasm however, the Silsden batting line up was keen to test themselves against one of last seasons teams to drop down from Division B.
Things couldn’t have got off to a better start with our overseas, Maj Inayat, dispatching his first two balls in competitive English cricket for 6 leaving us 14 for no wicket at the end of the first over. Disaster then struck with Maj nicking the first ball of the second over to Campion took a smart catch at first slip. Coxy was then joined by skipper, Bilbrough who built a steady second wicket partnership of 63 before Bilbrough lobbed up a soft caught and bowled and was out for 31. Menston bowled well in the conditions, and in particular their two spinners of Storey and Lee with the latter bowling particularly well going on to pick up 5 wickets for only 39 in his spell of 10 overs. Craig Thornton, Chris Barrett and Nathan Barrett all had little impact although there were a couple of dodgy looking decisions which included the key wicket of Coxy (28) which lost us a lot of impetus going in to the final overs. There was some wag in the tail however with a handy 20 from Shutty and a decent contribution of 25 from the well rested Hugh Sugden which included some lusty blows in the last couple of overs. The innings closed on 139 for 9 which looked a competitive score given the conditions.
Silsden 1st XI need a dot ball from the last delivery to win the game.
The Menston reply started steadily with the returning Dave Wynn and Matty Shuttleworth both bowling well in the early overs. Runs were hard to come by, however there was very little threat in the way of wickets until Shutty trapped Thomas LBW for 17. Shutty was then replaced by Maj who bowled a nice tidy spell, however neither side could really grasp the initiative and a close finish looked inevitable. The difference however would prove to be G Lee who batted patiently and sensibly for a solid 71 finishing off an excellent personal performance after his earlier efforts with the ball. Just as he looked to be taking the game away from Silsden however he played a rash shot and was stumped by Barrett off a bowling of Lawrence who was easily the pick of the Silsden attack. With 6 needed off the last over and then 2 off the last ball a slog to cow corner for 6 gave Menston probably a deserved win and all 6 points. Maj bowled well finishing with 2 for 36 off his 10 overs with Keiran however being the best bowler finishing with 3 for 36 off 10.
While it was not the prettiest game of cricket it was competitive and a decent run out for the first 11 who travel to Illingworth next week with what should be a strengthened team with the return of a number of key players. TOP
Saturday, 28th April 2012
Silsden 1st XI v Illingworth (Away)
The match was rained off without a ball being bowled.
Silsden 1st XI v Hall Park (Home)
On what felt like the first proper weekend of the season we hosted Hall Park on a bright, sunny but cold day. The ground looked well and spirits were high. After winning the toss we invited the visitors to bat first on a decent looking yet soft wicket. Wynny and Shutty got us off to a tidy start and the Hall Park openers found runs hard to come by. Wynny then made the pressure pay and bowled opener Walshaw and then dismissed Hall Parks overseas very next ball for a goldie. Our tails were then very much up however Kempton started to score with a variety of loose shots which somehow found the gaps on his way to a top score of 24. Majit Inyat then joined the attack and immediately caused the middle order real problems and was soon amongst the wickets bowling Dobson and then the danger man Kempton was caught in the deep. Maj picked up wickets at regular intervals backed up by a decent performance in the field which restricted the visitors to only 137 in 41 overs. Only Hodson (17) with a brief flurry at the end threatened to post a decent score however with nearly 60 overs on the board it looked like a very gettable total. Maj was easily the pick of the bowlers finishing with 6 for 41 off 11. Wynny (3 for 44) also bowled well making the important early break and coming back to kill a rabbit at the end. Shutty and Kieron also rounded off a good effort by all 4 bowlers.
Skipper Bibrough joined old partner Coxy to open the innings and got things off to a steady start. While the ball swung around early on neither openers were particularly troubled by the Hall Park attack yet runs were difficult to come by. Lee picked up the rate as he settled in and they took the total past 50 before the umpires came together to confer over a cock up with the team sheets. A lengthy delayed followed and once play resumed Bilbrough (37) was out straight away playing all round a straight one. Majit also missed a straight one so Coxy was joined by Craig Thornton who proceeded to hit a leg stump half volley straight down the throat of the only man on the leg side. The quick scoring Nathan Barrett then joined Coxy and quickly took the game away from Hall Park with a free flowing 18. Top scorer Coxy (39) then got out to Postle, the best of the Hall Park bowlers however with Suggy chipping in with 9 it was left to Shuttly to drive through the off side and complete a comfortable 4 wicket win.
On to Horsforth next week with what should be a strengthened side and plenty of confidence! TOP
Silsden 1st XI v Horsforth (Away)
After the usual Saturday morning chaos we arrived at Horsforth very late as seems to be the norm. After a pretty poor warm up captain Bilbrough was guaranteed to lose the toss on a dreadful looking wet one and we were asked to have a bat by "you know who I am” the Horsforth Skipper. The usually solid opening pair of Bilbrough and Cox strode to the wicket after Bilbroughs team talk of “nobody leaves it to the next man” and we will need to graft and must bat 50 overs! The skipper was then given out to a dodgy ct behind in only the 4th over bringing “ I don’t hit sixes” Maj to the wicket. After a pretty explosive few overs including 2 sixes and a four Maj missed a straight one and was out on 25 with the score on 49 for 2. Craig Thornton was then victim to another suspect LBW for 15. “I haven’t got a watch” Nathan Bradbury then failed to trouble the scorers in his first innings of the year departing LBW for 2. Nathan Barrett then played and missed at a few before lobbing one up to mid wicket, again for 2 and the collapse was on. Phil Binner, also playing for the first time of the year came and went. When Coxy got out for a solid 38 the score was 90 for 7 which brought Vice captain Matt Shuttleworth to the crease who drove powerfully through the covers before trying to repeat the same shot the next ball only to nick one behind to the keeper. He then hid his frustration beautifully by throwing both bat and helmet further than he had hit his cover drive. With only 105 on the board in 40 overs we had collectively left it to Coxy to get the runs and gifted the home side 64 overs to knock off a small yet tricky total on a still crap early season deck.
Early wickets were vital if we were to pull off an unlikely win and while Shutty and Wynny bowled well restricting the Horsforth openers to only 22 off the first 11 overs we didn’t really threaten to get anyone out. It took until the 15th over till Shutty removed one of the openers to yet another dodgy looking LBW decision with the score on 32. Maj then replaced Wynny in the hope he could repeat last weeks heroics and again bowled nicely in tandem with shuts restricting the scoring but again failing to threaten. “I still do know who you are” rode his luck being dropped 3 times on his way to 19 and with another poor LBW decision the very long looking Horsforth tail was exposed. Binner then came in to the attack and brought his usual energy and enthusiasm end ended up the pick of the bowlers with 3 – 30 off 8 overs. Maj backed him up well and while for a very short time it looked like Horsforth arse was going to fall out they managed to scrape home with only 2 wickets to spare after 38 overs. Another 30 runs would probably been enough and if we had batted 50 overs we would have go them.
This week sees the first local derby of the season when Skipton are the visitors. More support for Coxy with the bat and a better effort in the field to back up the bowling should make us a half decent side. TOP