Twenty-one down, One to go

Last week's home match against local rivals Airedale was strange. Firstly it was top versus bottom. Then there was the respectful minute silence for the Queen before the match. Then another minute silence at 3pm that came as a bit of a surprise to everyone other than the umpire, but which was still observed impeccably. And then there was the end-of-term feel to events...

Airedale won the toss but chose to bowl first in damp, overcast conditions. It wasn't a bad call. Nav batted sensibly for his 22 and Shanny showed real attacking conviction for his 44, but wickets fell steadily and by drinks we were in a bit of bother approaching 90 with 5 wickets down. Things changed rapidly though as Zullie yet again unleashed a flurry of sixes and fours in a rapid fire 72 before being last man out with the score on 179 (having just turned down an easy single that would have provided the 5th batting point - greedy or what?)

Airedale's response was 'steady'. They weren't blown away, but their rate of scoring wasn't anywhere near enough to challenge for a win either. But needing over a hundred from about a dozen overs, Gully decided to have a bit of fun and let everyone else, including wicket keeper Nav, have a bowl. Maybe as a result, Airedale managed to pile on a few late runs reaching 150-9 by the close and picking up 3 potentially valuable batting points in the process.

All was good natured with plenty of laughter between the camps, even a withdrawal of an appeal at one point I believe, and I think everyone on both teams had a good day. And that's how it should always be.

This week is the season finale. We are home to Bingley Congs from 1pm. Make it through this game and we will have quite miraculously have completed every match in the fixture list without any abandonments or cancellations - when was the last time we had such an excellent summer that allowed that? Seriously, does anybody know?