Another Two-fer

Firstly apologies for the lack of report last week. It was an away match and the scorecard confused me as the overs weren't complete even if taking reductions due to the weather into account (29.5?) so I decided to hold off until I could ask someone who was ther.

But I did know we won, and in style. It seems that the wether caused the game to be reduced to 30 overs each, with additional breaks in play causing it to be one of those stop-start days that cricket sometimes has. But having been put in to bat by Riddlesden, Hepworth & Idle struggled to 92 for 5 from their alloted overs, with Ibrahim bein a bit of a star picking up a brace of wickets from just 4 overs. With rain an ever prsent threat, we needed runs quickly so Zullie joined Kamran opening. They took the score to 32 off 4 overs before Zullie lost his wicket. 6 balls & 11 runs later, Kamran was out also. But there the wickets ended - Nav and Gully romped home in a flurry of boundaries as Riddlesden overcame the target in just 9.1 overs.

So now onto this week's match at home against Cowling. Having won the toss, Riddlesden elected to bat first in overcast but pretty dry conditions. Kamran & Qaddie set about in strong fashion with Kamran hitting six sixes before holing out on 54. Quaddie meanwhile dealt in fours but provided a good foil to Naveed who was in top form. Between them they put the game beyond Cowling to be honest, even before Quaddy had to retire hurt for 58 with a shoulder injury. Nav just kept going, joined by Ehsan (19), then Akeel (19), and finally Robbo (1*) - along the way Nav hit 7 sixes and 5 fours, finishing on a magnificent 105 not out. Riddlesden ended their 40 overs with a dominant 275-3

Cowling started slowly, struggling to get Zullie and Arfan away. Zullie made the breakthrough with the score on just 4. Then the floodgates opened. In the space of 6 balls, Cowling lost 4 wickets with both Zullie and Arfan taking a pair and found themselves on 7-5 off 6 overs. Zullie was relentless, finishing with amazing figures of 6-7 from his 10 overs, including an excellent wicket where the batsman was bowled around his legs! The only respite Cowling received was a bit of wag of the tail as numbers 8, 9 and 10 had a late thrash, particularly at Biggie's two overs, which at least helped them over the fifty mark which at one point looked way beyond them. Jamil finished it off in conjunction with a smart catch from the captain to end the game with a 212 winning run margin!

This week's opponents have already conceded which means that - if the weather doesn't wipe out all the fixtures as it did when Denholme conceded against us - only Glusburn can catch us at the top of the table now, and then only by winning all their remaining games and us losing ours. Instead this week we look to Sunday where the Cowling Cup Finals Day awaits at Airedale Cricket Club. Our semi-final against Embsay is scheduled for 1pm, with the final at 4:30. If the weather is kind (as I type the forecast predicts a 50% - 60% chance of rain all afternoon) then we have as good a chance of silverware as any of the other teams there so why not come along and support?