Same ol' Situation
It's becoming a familiar story this summer - rain and disappointment.
Once again the weather gods seemed unhappy with the prospect of cricket taking place across the region, clearly being far more interested in the tennis, motorsport and football. Consequently Saturday turned out to be rather a damp affair again. At least for the first team at any rate - they're the rain of the title. The seconds manfully strove to complete their match despite the offer of cancellation and, for their troubles, they become the disappointment.
Things got off to a bad start for both teams with steady rain falling in the morning, coupled with a pair of late player withdrawals leading to a late call-up to fill the 1st team and the 2nds travelling one player short.
With the showers gradually abating, the first team were eager to get on with the match, but sadly the umpires had reservations leading to a frustrating 90 minutes in mostly sunny conditions waiting for the pitch to dry sufficiently. Eventually a 30 over per side game began with Riddlesden batting and Mohammed Mansha and Mohammad Qadeer quickly set about scoring some runs. Both scored freely (38 & 20 respectively) setting a good platform for the rest of the team. Sadly, only Aftab Khan, continuing his good form, and Mohammed Arshad really managed to contribute meaningfully thereafter, but at 136 we'd set a target. Howarth Road Responded well but at 49-1 the rain returned, and this time it was for keeps - the captains shaking hands shortly afterwards.
Over at Embsay, the ten men of the second team restricted their hosts to exactly 100 with some good bowling from Imran Mehrban, Gulzreen Ashraf and Dale Pinkerton. The bowling unit also saw a brief return of Bob Morrisroe, but I think he regretted it quickly. Sadly, the batting side of things didn't go well with only Steve Kernan (20) and Shehryar Hussain (19) offering anything of note. Still, good to see Steve fianlly getting some runs for the team again. But with a scoreline of just 66 all out, it was a poor defeat.
Overall the weekend didn't produce much change to the tables. Every match in the first division was washed out so everyone stays as they were. In the third division, the only matches other than ours that were completed involved the two teams below us and they both lost. So I guess we walk away from this round with nothing won or lost, and move onto next weekend.
Next fixtures: 1st team: Crossflatts 1st(away) 2nd team: Crossflatts 2nd (home)
News Extra: This weekend sees Greg and Ian - our Chairman and Treasurer - take on the three peaks for charity. The lengths they're willing to go to in order to avoid being picked for the team is incredible. But if you feel like supporting their cause, links to their charity pages are on the website home page.