Nothing to see here!

Hi, remember me? I used to write match reports about how Riddlesden were doing. Usually weekly, though I admit occasionally I had to do a double header due to various reasons - mostly relating to incompetence on my part. Well you probably noticed that I took this to a whole new level and have managed to miss a whopping nine league and three cup games. I amaze myself! In mitigation I discovered Covid is pretty bad and had a bit of an upheaval career-wise, but mostly I've just been a bit rubbish - sorry.

Fortunately not a lot happened in any of them...

Let's look at the highlights.

1. Away at Silsden - there weren't many highlights. Soundly beaten by the better team on the day, only Arfan (52 not out) impressed with the bat and Silsden cruised to a deserved victory.

2. Away at Long Lee - I think there was a bit of frustration from the Silsden defeat as Kamran (123) and Shanny (166) shared a massive 252 second wicket partnership in a 395-7 total. Aftab's 4-11 helped bowl Long Lee out for 134 and secure a 261 run victory.

3. Home v Denholme (cup) - finally back from our summer grand tour with a wet Thursday night match. Everyone contributed to a 160-8 score form our 100 balls with Aftab top contributor on 48. Coach (3-7) and Zullie (2-14) whittled Denholme to 37-6 when rain intervened. In a superb show of fair play, Denholme awarded the match to us despite having had the right to take it to a coin toss had they desired.

4. Home v Glusburn - another Shanny century (104) and 58 for Aftab helped Riddlesden post 237 all out. Glusburn were blown away by Zullie's excellent 8-23 (3rd best figures in Yorkshire that week) closing on just 80 all out.

5. Away at Foulridge - bit of a scrap from Foulridge who had a couple of half centuries and needed the input of the less regularly used bowlers to clean up as Gully and Shanny picked up 3 wickets apiece. The Foulridge total of 172 was chased down relatively easily with runs being shared throughout the top seven.

6. Home v Skipton CI - Arfan hit another half century and was well backed up by Shanny (46), Coach (39) and Gully (47 not out) in a good total of 266. Zullie's 5-fer (5-37) and a brace from Akeel meant Skipton were never really in it, but their tail wagged adding nearly a hundred of their 146 in the last three wickets.

7. Home v Bradley - who would have guessed our good friend Quaddy would come back to haunt us. His unhurried 32 was all that prevented Bradley from being blown away as they lost 3 wickets for just 2 runs. Coach led the way with 5-33, with young Ibrahim picking up 3 wickets too. Bradley limped to 141. Riddlesden responded strongly losing just a couple of wickets on the way to an 8 wicket win with Shanny ending 57 not out.

8. Home v Eldwick - the match against Airedale is often considered a derby match, but surely this is the biggest derby you can get! A Kamran half century (57)and plenty from Shanny, Eshan, Arfan and Gully gave us a good score. But then Zullie strolled to the crease. His blistering 67 off not very many (7 sixes, 3 fours) propelled the score to 272 all out. I was told afterwards that at the drinks break Eldwick were pretty pleased that they were keeping us in check, then suddenly we were past 250. Eldwick tried, but that score was always beyond them as Zullie took 4 wickets, and Ibrahim and Coach shared the remainder between them

9. Away at Barrowford - Barrowford conceded. Saved us a trip. Only other thing was we won the division with the points from that...

10. Manorlands cup finals day (at Keighley CC)

Semi final v Bradley - good opening partnership between Shanny (33) and Naveed (42), plus able assistance from Arfan (23) gave us a good 130. Bradley didn't get going and Arfan & Bibler picked up 3 wckets apiece as the ended on 78.

Final v Barrowford - Zullie tried to repeat his heroics of a week earlier with 34 not out and a huge bruise on his forehead having attempted to head the ball for six, but nobody else managed a score of note leaving us all out for 85. This proved no challenge for Barrowford who comfortably won. Still, runner-up isn't bad!

11. Home v Bradford & Bingley - B&B batted first but nobody really managed to score much. Zullie (4-18) and Coach (0-6) tied them up at the top, then Ibrahim (3-20) took out the middle order. With 25 byes making up a quarter of the score(!!!) B&B ended on 100 all out. Naveed scored 50 not out at almost a run a ball, Kamran scored 22 and Arfan guided the team home with 15 from 11 balls to win in under 15 overs.

So there we have it. Just a sprinkling of centuries, a record 2nd wicket partnership, an 8 wicket haul, a cup runner up performance, promotion to the first division and second division champions. Told you I'd not missed much!