Amazing Mega Catch-up Blog!!!

Or 'real-world got in the way and I've been terribly lax of late, so here's a roundup of three league and two cup games'. I prefer Amazing Mega Catch-up myself as it suggests this was on purpose...

So yes, way back when (3 weeks ago) Riddlesden set out on their league 'grand tour' - five away games in a row thanks to the vagaries of the fixtures computer I guess. Also in this period were matches in the two cup competitions, though the Manorlands Plate game was at least at home so the team were at least given a reminder of what our ground looked like.

First up was a league game against Bradford & Bingley at Sandy Lane, a ground notorious for its pitch. We won the toss and batted first. Despite complaints about the state of the pitch, it has to be said that putting on a score of 223 all out doesn't seem bad. But then you notice that Aftab score 117 of these (14 fours & 7 sixes) and you realise that everyone else must have struggled. Only Zullie with a late 21 (2 fours & 2 sixes) made much of an impact otherwise. Bradford & Bingley struggled in reply though, at one point being 6-3. Zullie bowled superbly, ending with 5-9 from his 12 overs. In the end, the hosts struggled to 96 all out, giving Riddlesden a 127 run win and 20 points.

Next was the Manorlands Cup against a youthful Keighley 3rds team. This was a bit of an eye-opener, being on a Monday evening and our first ever game using the Hundred format. This in its own right caused some confusion - nobody was entirely aware of the rules (and I include the umpires in this), and we weren't sure how to go about scoring 'sets' of 5 balls each. We stumbled through. Anyway, having won the toss and - you guessed it - batted first, Riddlesden got off to a blinder with Shanny caught in the first over by our former player Shehri! But after that Saquib (only seems to play cup games, but he does a good cameo) and Aftab went to town. Saquib added 27 quick runs - with just a hundred balls they all have to be quick - and Aftab really went for it with 89 from 34 (16 fours & 3 sixes). Gully smashed 31 before being bowled by a full toss, that was bizarrely called a no-ball for height. Gully showed tremendous fair-play though by retiring instead, congratulations for sportsmanship there. In the end we posted 202-4 from our 100 balls. Keighley batted quite well in fairness, but were never in the hunt to win. They were also hampered by a setting sun for a while - a problem in evening games. But overall they were never in with much chance given Aftab was on fire with the ball, 5-4 from his 20 deliveries! They reached 107-7 by the close. A 95 run win for Riddlesden and through to the quarter finals (at home vs. Denholme - date tbc)

League game next at neighbours Airedale. Airedale won the toss - you can tell that because they batted first. Again Aftab was the bowling hero with another five-fer (5-21), but was backed up well by the ever-reliable Zullie (3-29). Despite these two, Airedale managed to post what seemed a reasonable total of 160 all out. It wasn't. With No Nav ths week, Ehsan was promoted to opener and took the chance to impress with both hands. A fine 47 (9 fours) from him was bettered only by fellow opener Kamran with 64 (9 fours & 3 sixes). The pair put on a stand of 87. Shanny joined Kamran and blitzed a further 31 not out. Riddlesden chased the total down in just 20 overs, finishing on 164-2 and collecting yet another 20 point maximum.

On to the Keighley Cup - against Keighley again, but this time the first team. A cool, overcast Wednesday evening at Keighley's Lawkholme Lane ground proved to be a chastening experience. Keighley won the toss and batted first (sound familiar?). And boy did they bat. I haven't seen a scorecard but there were a lot of sixes! Their Australian overseas player took a real liking to our bowling, and in particular trying to hit it into the rugby ground. He finished on 107 not out I think. Keighley finished on 199-6. Our turn to bat. Not quite so good. Keighley fielders were superb at taking catches - I don't recall a single drop, and one was running away from the ball taking it over his shoulder. We limped our way to 61 all out and were dumped out of the cup by a clearly better team. But it was nice to play on such a good quality ground,

Finally there was Bingley Congs away in the league. Congs won the toss and batted of course. An obstinate Tony Teale held up our bowlers scoring 49 not out, and prevented us from picking up all 5 bowling points as Congs scored 139-9 from the 45 overs. The wickets were shared out between 6 different bowlers, but Zullie and Arfan bowled very tightly at the start - the first run didn't arrive until the 27th ball . Riddlesden's response was once again brutal. After losing Kamran in the 2nd over, Nav (61 - 7 fours/2 sixes) & Shanny (65 not out - 8 fours/2 sixes) added 123 off 120 balls before Nav was finally out just short of the winning total. Aftab saw them home winning by 8 wickets and collectin another 19 points.

So that's the halfway stage of the season. This weekend we have a tasty away fixture at second placed Silsden. Silsden lost their first two games against us and (ironically) Eldwick & Gilstead, but have then won their last nine - including demolishing Bradley last week bowling them out for 41. Win there and we are in the driving seat for promotion. Lose and they will be gaining on us. To use a football analogy, it's only half-time so we've got to keep doing what we've been doing so far!