A plethora of players will face their former clubs in one of the Sykes Cup’s most tantilising of second round ties with Broad Oak hosting their cross valley rivals Golcar in one of the picks of the round. Golcar’s in-form opening batsman James Howson will be relishing a trip to the club he cut his teeth at whilst Adam France and Jack Hargreaves will look forward to welcoming former teammates to his club, Broad Oak.
Thurstonland’s season doesn’t get any easier after they drew the short straw with a trip away to holders Hoylandswaine in a vague flashback in time to their Huddersfield Central League days. Russell Mottram’s Championship strugglers - yet to win in the league - face the formidable task of keeping Hoylandswaine’s well-stocked bowling and batting armoury at bay. Another second tier outfit, Meltham also have a tough assignment as they welcome Premiership side and 2015 winners Barkisland to Mean Lane.
More Premiership teams will be pruned before the quarter final stage as Delph & Dobcross welcome Honley and Scholes entertain Shepley. Honley’s Simon Kelly, already with three half-centuries to his name this season, will have his work cut out if Delph bowlers Umer Yaqoob and Rizwan Ali rediscover the electrifying form that obliterated Armitage Bridge in the previous round. They’ll both have a nice warm-up to this fixture given they play each other in a league match the week before and older supporters of both sides may recall a Sykes Cup final between the sides in 2005, a match won by Honley. Two teams who have experienced chastening starts to their campaign; Scholes and Shepley will put their league concerns to one side as they face off at Chapelgate with Shepley’s Tom Chadwick returning to face the team he won the Sykes Cup with in 2017.
High-flying Moorlands will need to negotiate a potentially tricky trip to Holmfirth who have begun their season equally as brightly. Eddie Walmsley’s men have the potential to go all the way but will be wary of complacency as they eye up a place in the last eight. Another local derby has also been thrown up with Kirkburton making the short one mile journey to Westerley Lane in a showdown with Shelley.
In the Oddfellows Cup; the competition involving the lowest ranked 1XI Sykes Cup losing teams, Lascelles Hall remained the highest placed side being the only Championship team in the draw. Birkby Rose Hill stand in their way of further progress.
The Match & Registration Secretary needed to rely on a relatively composite algorithm to produce the draws for the Sykes Cup and Paddock Shield along with the Oddfellows and Earnshaw Cup opening round due to the increasing complexity of teams placed in ‘home’ and ‘away’ pots. The draw was executed in the presence of four Executive Committee members via video conference.
All matches will be played on Sunday May 30th 2021 with a reserve date the following Sunday.
Sykes Cup Round Two
Hoylandswaine v Thurstonland
Thongsbridge v Skelmanthorpe
Meltham v Barkisland
Delph & Dobcross v Honley
Shelley v Kirkburton
Scholes v Shepley
Holmfirth v Moorlands
Broad Oak v Golcar
Oddfellows Cup Round One
Kirkheaton v Mirfield
Hall Bower v Cumberworth Utd
Holmbridge v Lepton
Birkby Rose Hill v Lascelles Hall
Upperthong v Almondbury
Denby Dale v Edgerton & Dalton
Emley Clarence v Cartworth Moor
Linthwaite v Flockton
