Honley emerged from the shadows to leap into second place as they registered their fourth win of the season at home to hapless Delph & Dobcross. On a soggy Saturday where only four matches out of seven could start, a golden opportunity was squandered by Moorlands to move up to joint first in the Premiership with Kirkburton preventing them taking advantage of their rivals inactivity. Shepley huffed to their second win of the season with a gritty victory over Golcar and Barkisland edged out Mirfield Parish Cavaliers by just five runs to push into mid-table.
Taylor And Wilson Ease Jitters To Fire Honley To Second
Eddie Wilson took his season's tally over the 250 run mark with a bludgening 59no
Honley captain Timmy Taylor skilfully negotiated a worrying opening barrage by Delph & Dobcross bowlers Umer Yaqoob and Rizwan Ali to fire Honley up to second in the Premiership table. Taylor (68no) and Eddie Wilson (59no) brushed off the loss of the first two Honley wickets in reply to Delph’s testing 151-8 total on a wicket offering assistance to the home team bowling attack. Earlier, Harry Partington (31) and Yaqoob (32) put on 65 runs for the opening wicket but Delph were prevented from accelerating out of sight. Harlon Haye (3-45) was a welcome sight on his first Honley appearance since the opening day of the 2014 season and Lewis Kenworthy took 4-54 as wickets clattered during Delph's scramble to add quick runs to their total. Honley appeared to be in a pickle at 3-2 with Delph fired up but Timmy Taylor’s classy innings quickly subdued the visitors before Wilson wrestled the initiative to put the match to bed with 17 overs remaining. The sides will do it all over again in a week's time at Delph for their Sykes Cup second round fixture.
Shorter Format Suits ‘Burton Who Scupper Moorlands’ Title Bid
Kirkburton captain Jonny Butterfield's 46 underpinned their success at Moorlands
Moorlands’ title hopes took a blow as they came off second best in a shortened 20 over thrash at home to Kirkburton. Johnny Butterfield’s 46 proved crucial for the visitors, setting a solid 135-5 score with Moorlands’ typically prudent bowling unit suffering an off day. James Stansfield (3-49) caused the most damage but all the home bowlers, aside from Andy Walker took some hammer. Eddie Walmsley (46) made a fist of the reply but tight bowling in the final five overs from Tom Burkinshaw (2-10) and Aaron Moore (1-36) clinically snuffed out Moorlands’ threat as they stuttered to 117-7.
Shepley’s Nerves Evident Again In Victory Against Golcar
Opener Daniel Wood got Shepley off to a positive start at home to Golcar
Shepley won back to back matches at Marsh Lane but just as in their previous victory against Slaithwaite, they made heavy weather of overhauling Golcar’s unimposing total. The hosts welcomed back George Booth from Yorkshire Academy duty and he repaid them with three wickets as Golcar struggled on a pitch that like most others, suffered from the weekday deluges. Steve Whitwam (23) top scored for the visitors who worked their way to 50-2 before the rot set in as they withered to 90ao. Shepley fared similarly as Daniel Wood (44) firmed up the reply and they looked set for a routine win at 64-1. Cracks soon became fissures at 81-7, injecting hope into Golcar who threatened to turn the tables on the hosts with Will Hinchliffe central to Shepley’s torment. Greg Wood (15no) wisely dropped himself lower down the order to shepherd his team as they ran out three wicket winners on 91-7.
Parish Left Cursing After Jasper Heroics Boost Barkisland
Mirfield Parish were left bemoaning an excellent performance by Jasper Male as they fell short by five runs away at Barkisland. The hosts were in peril batting first at 11-3 and then staggered along to 57-6 but were indebted to an inspired recovery led by Harry Finch (34). Connor Rowlands (3-26) on his first 1XI appearance of the season kept the visitors in control until young wicketkeeper Jasper Male (63no) turned up the tempo to crash some important runs with a second half century of the season as Barkisland reached 155-8 from their 30 overs. The intriguing match continued to entertain in the second innings as Max Didgiunaitis (2-26) landed an early blow. But batsman Will Smeaton (28) settled the nerves and Nazar Hussain (24) helped rebuild in the middle order. The loss of skipper Nick Sharp (41) looked to be the turning point with Parish needing 20 runs off the final two overs, but Didgiunaitis bowled two dots and wicket on the first three balls in the final over to end Parish’s hopes of a win as they rounded on 150-8.
Rain Affected
Three matches succumbed to the biblical precipitation in the run up to the weekend. Slaithwaite v Armitage Bridge was an early casualty due to an unfit pitch, as was the much anticipated Hoylandswaine v Thongsbridge fixture. Broad Oak v Scholes was the final match to fall foul.
