Lightcliffe v Farsley


Date: Saturday, July 5
Scores: Lightcliffe 115: Farsley 117 - 5: Farsley won by 5 wickets
Points: Farsley 15 – Lightcliffe 2
Venue: Lightcliffe


It was a blustery and wet day at the picturesque Lightcliffe ground – at 2.00pm when play started it was difficult to imagine that play would be uninterrupted. But the cricketing gods seemed to smile on the match with only 3 more minutes lost even though thunder and lightning on the horizon seemed to threaten all the way through the first innings.

The match was reduced to 47 overs a side, Lightcliffe won the toss and elected to bat – a brave decision as there was a distinct wet patch on the wicket just on a length for the downhill bowler.

Farsley fielded an unchanged team except for the absence of Ashley Metcalfe on holiday – youngster Joe Greaves came into the team. Chris Henry opened the bowling from the top end and seemed to have recovered some of his previous pace. With the aforementioned wet patch helping he sent a number of deliveries through at head height off a decent length and the openers struggled to put bat on ball in the early overs. Boz
Thornton took the ball from the bottom end and toiled up the slope – the wicket looked much more docile from that end. Boz bowled some accurate stuff in the first few overs and although the batsmen made contact they struggled scoring at under 3 an over.

Sure enough with the pressure building the first wicket fell in the fifth over, Chenners getting one to rear up off a length getting an edge and the skipper took the catch at head height; Michael Brooke departed for 1 at 15-1.

Scoring became a bit easier as Boz and Chenners started to throw in a few short ones although it was still only 40-1 after 14 overs. Boz maintained his effort levels on a difficult wicket – the steep slope meant that Syers started keeping up to the wicket. Boz was nearly rewarded for his efforts in the 14th – a smart slip chance went down to Baz Frankland – Boz was then heard to politely question both the fielder's intelligence and parentage in the same sentence. Apologies quickly ensued (although to the umpire not the fielder)!
As the bowlers started to tire the accuracy suffered and the score moved on to 54 after 17 overs with opener Bruce Lunn looking very solid (although not particularly productive run-wise). In the 19th over Matthew Lumb came on for Chenners from the top end and his height immediately produced the desired result with balls lifting off a length. A half chance to Baz at backaward point was immediately followed by a wicket – caught behind again; 59-2. Boz also started to get one or two to lift and he got his reward in the 20th over bowling batsmen number 4, 64-3. This was followed in the 22nd over by a magnificent caught behind from Syers keeping up to the wicket to Boz's lively pace; 64-4.

The body language of the Lightcliffe batsmen matched the sombre weather, and with the thunder and lightning in the distance the rain duly arrived at 3.23pm. Amazingly, however, by the time the covers were on the sun came out and play resumed at 3.26pm. Bruce Lunn continued to toil but looked resigned to what was going to happen at the other end and the wickets continued to fall. The second ball after the restart saw Boz bowl the No4, and in the 23rd Lumby got 2 wickets in successive balls, both caught by Chenners in the slips (Boz heard muttering on the boundary!). Enzo came on for Boz in the 28th over and bowled his usual accurate and lively stuff and both Chenners and Boz returned at the top end in the 33rd and the 39th respectively. The remaining wickets predictably did not take long; 2 smart stumpings and a skied catch by Chenners off Enzo to finally remove Bruce Lunn after a battling innings of 58.

All was well with the world – an excellent tea time spread, the weather brightening up and only 116 to win. What could possibly go wrong?
You guessed it. The top order made hard going of some ordinary looking Lightcliffe bowling. The wicket was providing some variable bounce, but the ball was coming onto the bat and there were some short boundaries. No excuses really for the wickets of Harvey and Dan, and when Enzo got one down the slope that looked unplayable caught behind it started to look all too familiar.

The skipper came in at number 5 to join Shabs at 7-3 to face Robinson who had just got Enzo's wicket. He turned out to be a Jeckle and Hyde character however – two full tosses and a long hop in the same over, 18 runs to Syers and that was the end of his spell! Shabs and Syers began to restore normality taking the score to 44 before Shabs was caught on the crease and was bowled. Will Kitchen next; he looked solid and positive but went to a bat pad catch after scoring a brisk 11.
Then came the big chance for newcomer Joe Greaves and after a shaky start he put his nerves behind him in the 15th over to hit a classy cover drive take the score to 70. Some more good shots ensued from Joe, and when Syers effortlessly reached his 50 in the 18th over off 43 balls the opposition began to realise their dream was over. The pair reached the required 116 in the 23rd over with Syers on 67 not out and Joe reaching 25.

Another great performance from the skipper including, top score and 5 wickets, and it was good to see some penetration back for the seamers. Well done to Joe Greaves, but when will we get a decent partnership from the top of the order? With Undercliffe and Idle coming to Red Lane in the next 3 weeks we must put this right if we are going to push on to promotion.



* Farsley have now been awarded their Priestly Cup Second Round game against Bowling Old Lane which was abandoned on June 28.
They will now play First Division Cleckheaton on Sunday, July 13, at Red Lane, starting at 1pm.