Five-fers

A return to form on Saturday as bottom team Wilsden were comfortably beaten at home by Riddlesden.

Having been put in by the visitors, we started well with an opening partnership of 30 between Kamran and, in an unfamiliar role, Arshad.  Tayyab continued the steady start before falling LBW, but Kamran was dismissed for a fine 40 without adding further runs leaving the score 67-3.  A good 6th wicket stand between Gully(30) and Saqib(46) pushed the total along to 177, before Zullie had one of 'those' innings, hitting 5 sixes in a rapid 34 from just 12 balls to end the innings.  Having managed to bat out the overs for a change, Riddlesden finished on a very good 223-7.

Wilsden were in trouble immediately, losing their first wicket to the first ball of the innings (a platinum duck!) to Zullie, clearly still pumped from his batting performance.  Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals as Wilsden tried to keep pace with the run rate, with Jamil impressing in his first game since 2022, but with the score on 44-4 after 19 overs, things were looking bleak.  Enter Majid Jahengir.  A quick fire 54 from 50 balls, ably assisted by Chris Longley (67) led a counter attack and a  98 run partnership.  By the time Gully caught Longley out - one of four catches he took - Wilsden were ahead of the run rate and looking dangerous.  But shortly after, Jamil dismissed the free scoring Jahengir and Zullie returned to mop up the tail in quick time, leaving Riddlesden victorious by 60 runs.  Excellent bowling figured from both Zullie (5-35) and Jamil (5-38) and a welcome 20 points after the mauling at Gargrave.

Next up we visit Bradley where so many of our former friends ply their trade now.  Promoted to the first division at the end of last season, they have so far acquitted themselves nicely.  Let's see what we can do there!