The Sykes Cup Second Round witnessed a series of thrilling encounters and a cup shock, with dramatic collapses and heroic individual performances. Delph were undone by Laas and Wagh at Rastrick with Kirkburton pushing past Armitage Bridge after a worrying wobble. Several compelling matches saw Honley, Almondbury Wesleyan and Mirfield Parish Cavaliers make the quarter finals. It was smooth sailing for Moorlands, Skelmathorpe and Hoylandswaine meanwhile as they asserted their dominance to march into the last eight.
In the only upset of the day, Premiership side Delph crumbled against a bowling onslaught by Championship team Rastrick. Christopher Laas’ solid 71 from 117 balls helped Rastrick reach a promising 146-2 before a dramatic collapse left them all out for 184. Delph's fifth bowler, Arman Hussain, took 5-29 for the visitors. However, Delph's response was even more dismal. After slipping from 50-3 to 51-7, they were all out for 88, with Rastrick's Shrikant Wagh (above) wreaking havoc with figures of 5-16 and former Moorlands Sykes Cup winner Nadim Hussain claiming 3-16 to polish off the win.
Kirkburton narrowly survived a scare against Armitage Bridge. The Premiership visitors were struggling at 5-3 but managed to post 152 all out, thanks to Isaac Young's top score of 32. Jack Hinchliffe was the pick of the Bridge bowlers with 3-26. Bridge looked well-placed at 67-3 but suffered a collapse to 77-7. John Keeling (4-11, above) and Andrew Smith (3-26) led the Kirkburton bowling attack. Despite Jaycob Curtling remaining unbeaten on 22, Bridge fell short by 13 runs.
Honley squeezed through a thrilling match against Shepley, winning by a narrow nine run margin. Simon Kelly's impressive 88 (above) guided Honley to 245-9, with Jack Mulhall taking five wickets for Shepley and Tom Sanders chipping in with 3-35. Shepley, well set at 211-4, lost their last six wickets for just 25 runs, collapsing to 236 all out. Connor Dale's opening 79 was in vain as Pritish Mistry and Darcy Munro each took three wickets in the late carnage.
In a match between two relegated Premiership teams, Mirfield Parish secured their first win of the season by defeating Thongsbridge away. Thongsbridge suffered their first loss of the campaign, bowled out for 144 by Nick Sharp's 4-29. Sharp also scored 52, but Parish experienced a major wobble, falling from 125-2 to 132-8. Daniel Hope's unbeaten 11 helped them to a nervy win on 147-9.
Moorlands cruised past Championship team Birkby Rose Hill, comfortably negotiating a tricky tie. Birkby were bowled out for a paltry 49, with former player Zain Ul-Abdin (above) and Daniel Moorhouse both taking 3-12. Moorlands lost two wickets in the chase, with Eddie Walmsley top-scoring with 21, securing a straightforward victory.
Hoylandswaine had few troubles in their away match at Golcar, winning by eight wickets. Golcar were bowled out for 130, with Arsaam Malik top-scoring with 49. Kamran Ghulam and Max Morley (above) each took three wickets for Swaine. Ben Kohler-Cadmore made the chase look easy, finishing unbeaten on 72 as Hoylandswaine reached 131-2.
Almondbury Wesleyan booked their passage through to the quarter-finals with a win at Barkisland. Their total of 239-6 was centred around Saqib Matlub's 77 (above)and Pragam Sharma's 64. Barkisland lost wickets frequently during their chase, eventually falling short at 186 all out. Matty Weston's 71 was a highlight, but Sharma's 4-16 and Stephen Lane's 3-35 proved too much to handle.
Conference high-flyers Hall Bower were dealt a humbling blow at home to Premiership side Skelmanthorpe. Prayesh Kumar Singh took 5-26, causing terminal damage as Hall Bower were bowled out for 101. Muhammad Rizvi (30 not out) and Kian Schwartz (33 not out) ensured an easy win for Skelmanthorpe, who finished on 104-2.
