What a Wonderful Start

The sun shone! And cricket was played. Riddlesden made the short trip to Sutton in Craven hoping that this season's start would be markedly better than last year.

Put into bat, the top order excelled. Steve Kernan (25) and Ibrar Ali(22) provided a solid foundation after the early loss of Mick Cryer. This was brilliantly built upon by Akeel Rashid (70) and Mohammad Shahnawaz (63) who both put down markers for what could be an interesting battle for top scorer this year. The tail wagged too, resulting in an excellent total of 248 - 8

In response, Sutton struggled badly. The step up from Div 4 is taking time to adjust to, and excellent bowling from Shanny (3-13) and Mohammad Qadeer (3-21), backed up by Danny Kernan (2-17) saw Riddlesden romp home, dismissing the home side for 66.

So a great win to start with. Last season our first victory was the 13th game - so we're already well ahead of where we were. Optimism seems high, and there's a belief around the squad this year. Here's hoping we continue in this vein for many weeks to come.

Our new friends Eldwick & Gilstead had their first taste of their new home ground as they faced Cononley. The visitors batted first in front of an impressive crowd drawn by the sun and alcohol, and progressed comfortably to their hundred with only two wickets down, but then collapsed to 144 all out (with Bhushan Desai cleaning up the tail with 3 wickets in his only 4 balls). Our tenants cruised to the target with 14 overs to spare - a result which sees them sitting at the top of Division 2 after two good wins out of two! I think (and hope) that they all felt welcome at Riddlesden, and I'm sure they will feel right at home with our help and support.

Midweek we also held our first Evening League match in which yet another team - Azeems - entertained Ingrow. An interesting format, 16 overs per side, and quite good fun to watch despite the cold, drizzle and darkness. As the game approached a fascinating conclusion with Azzeems needing 11 off the final two overs, the umpires deemed it too dark to continue and abandoned the match as a draw - much to the chagrin of both teams.

Onto this week, Riddlesden are at home to a rejuvenated Oakworth 2nds, led by old adversary Michael Scarborough. We should have played Cowling at home in the cup on Sunday, but they have conceded so we're straight through to the next round (away - June 3rd vs. Ingrow)

Eldwick & Gilstead visit Foulridge on Saturday, followed by a cup game at Oakworth on Sunday.

And later in the week our U11 juniors have matches at home against Bingley Congs (thu) and Steeton (Fri - tbc)

It's all go isn't it?