Sunday 5th July 2009

hosted by INGROW CC

Upper Wharfedale Stags u13s re-claim the John Hindle Cup after 3 years

Embsay u17s win the 2009 Spencer Cup;  Their first since 1989

The forecast said showers but they never did materialised at a sunny Ingrow for the first Finals of the year. Oakworth lost the toss and were asked to bat by League leaders Upper Wharfedale.

Openers Ollie Huck and Danny Aspinall were rightly cautious as the Dales attack wound up with high pace from Callum Lockett and James Stephenson. Their containment plan worked at least in part in that the high bounce did not deliver their wickets. For 7 overs they resisted well whilst not setting the score alight. They had seen off Lockett and Stephenson to bring Jack Shepherd and off-spinner Matthew Price into the fray. The tins showed just 10 runs when Price struck with his first ball clean bowling Aspinall for 4. Bradley Scrutton was the no 3 and he too found the very variable bounce from both pace and spin difficult to master. A further five overs on, Price was again the successful bowler when the watchful Huck was deceived by the spin to offer a catch to Stephenson. At 14-2 after 12 overs the Oakworth innings was in real danger of grinding to a halt.

Oaks Captain George Ingham joined the battle and his opening boundary at least momentarily kick-started the sluggish Oakworth innings. He was settling nicely when he lost the support of Scrutton who was winkled out by the leg-spin of the diminutive Charlie Slater, the simple catch dollying to keeper Will Peryer. Oaks now had their two senior batsmen at the crease with James Lee at no 5. He didn't last too long, caught by the sub fielder for a second wicket for Slater.

At 28-4 after almost 16 overs Oaks innings was under severe pressure and that produced the hammer blow when Ingham attacked a loose ball from the returned Lockett only to see it balloon towards the waiting James Stephenson. He made just 8 and the 31-5 score-line reflected the complete dominance of the excellent Stags bowling, which gave nothing and tested the Oaks with each change.

Next over any attempt at a rebuild was thwarted with a sixth wicket, that of Sam Nettleton bowled off his pads for 0 by the mesmerism of young Slater. Jack Keighley and left-hander Ben Wedge added 7 but again couldn't find any batting dominance to ruffle the Stags attack. Wedge was unfortunate to be run out by a direct hit and Oaks were in tatters at 38-7. That soon became 38-8 as Nick Sharples got the dreaded 'goldie' to give Slater his fourth scalp.

Number 10 Tom Fothergill added a second boundary to the innings but it was only a fleeting glimpse of the form that had allowed Oaks to defeat Stags in an earlier league match. Matthew Price return to the all-spin bowling front and Fothergill gave him his fourth of the decimated innings.  Finally Jack Keighley was run out for 4 with the total at 47 after just 24 of the allotted 30 overs with under-11 Will Rankin on 1 not out.

The masterstroke had not been the exploitation of the bouncy wicket with pace but the in-tandem use of spin. For North Yorkshire District player Matthew Price had 4 for 3 and spin twin Charlie Slater 4 for 17. The impressive pace of Callum Lockett returned him 1 for 5 from 5 overs.

Embsay were asked to bat and that decision almost immediately seemed appropriate as the Embsay Captain John Golson was well caught for 0 by Daniel Clayton for Peter Herbert off the second ball of the innings.  In the fifth over at 11-2 Joshua Robinson was also caught by Guy Andrews for 7. It was a  second for Herbert who looked lively in the hot sun-shine. The pairing of Lloyd Davies and Henry Barrow was to prove enormously entertaining as the latter assumed the aggressor role and Davies, not surprisingly, that of anchor man. For Addingham lad Barrow his stroke play showed huge talent with five 4s and four 6s to all parts of the picturesque Ingrow ground. His retirement on exactly 50 was greeted with huge accalaim as Embsay overturned their poor start.

Number 5 Luke Stockton was cleaned up for a duck by Haroon Ali in the 15th over with 78-3 on the board. A new foil for Davies was found with entry of 'Pit Bull' Ryan Sumner and he helped the lanky Davies to his retirement reached in style with a six at 55. When the Earby keeper's wicket fell the tins had rattled onwards to 124-4 in the 23rd over. The last seven overs brought some excellent wagging with another 37 for the loss of Sumner for 12 along with Jake Parker (8), Freddie Midgeley (1), and Ben Stckton (4). The bowling recovered its poise after teh onslaught from Davies (6 fours & 2 sixes) and Barrow and spinner Sam Baldwin chipped in 2 for 27 with pacy opener Peter Herbert 2 for 21. The 161-7 tally was perhaps just slightly ahead of par but we could still not be sure which team would take the Cup.

The Skipton reply also suffered an early blow with a catch from Ben Stockton taking out Peter Herbert for 0. Henry Barrow was the successful bowler and soon he had Ben Holderness also in his locker for 4, caught by Freddie Midgeley.

The rot was stopped by Haroon Ali who joined Guy Andrews in a 40-run stand to pick up their strangled start. He made a patient 19 as Andrews carried onwards with skipper Keir Nelson. The new pairing as with their Embsay counterparts began to steadily pick up the run rate as the destination of the silverware remained unpredictable.

Andrews on 32 was snapped up by keeper Sumner for Luke Stockton to keep Embsay just ahead on points. Nelson recognised correctly he needed to take the bull by the horns and a succession of partners; Sam Baldwin (8), Arslan Nasir (2) and Andy Watson (8) helped him do just that.

All three wickets fell to Lloyd Davies as the pendulum swung heavily back in favour of Embsay as Keir Nelson also retired on 50. It was left to Daniel Clayton to marshall the tail as his skipper had decreased the asking rate significantly. The tail wagged to real effect and the added pressure on the Embsay fielders also brought additional reward. the score crept onwards and upwards with Embsay supporters now inching their nails mouthward.

With just apparently pride to play for Oaks began with their pace-men James Lee and Sam Nettleton and initially Jack Shepherd and John Stephenson coped admirably albeit with many aerial edges which went nowhere near Oakworth hands. They raced away to 44 in the eighth over with a 10-wicket drubbing in prospect. The still effusive Oakworth fielders and bowlers were still in self-urging mode when youngster Will Rankin responded to a boundary with the wicket of Stephenson, bowled by a beauty. Two balls later the leg-spin of George Ingham had the bat of Callum Lockett by-passed for a neat stumping from keeper Bradley Scrutton. 45-2 looked much better before the winning runs inevitably came from Shepherd on 13 not out.

Two years ago most of the Wharfedale boys suffered a heavy mauling by Earby and this reversal of fortune was thoroughly deserved  as the game but out-played Oaks were comprehensively defeated and they took their second Hindle Cup. Matthew Price was awarded the man-of-the-match for a wonderful spell of bowling.

What a final with three fifties to savour and a classic local-derby played in great spirit with as tense a finish for years.

It didn't seem to matter that Embsay's Lloyd Davies plays for Skipton 1st Xi, Skipton's Ahmed Amro plays for Embsay seniors, Henry Barrow for Addingham, Ryan Sumner for Earby and one of the Stockton's for Bolton Abbey.

Sumner finally got his hands on a winners medal after 3 runners-up and Davies took the man-of-the-match for his 55 and 3-28 and the crowd continued to marvel at the really great final they had all witnessed.

THE TEAMS

U Wharfedale  Callum Lockett (Capt), Jack Shepherd, John Stephenson, James Stephenson, Charlie Slater, Matthew Price, Jake Parkinson, Ted Wilman, Sam Lockwood, Will Peryer, Kyran Clarke. Team Manager Mr. C Wildman

Oakworth George Ingham (Capt), James Lee, Jack Keighley, Oliver Huck, Bradley Scrutton, Danny Aspinall, Sam Nettleton, Ben Wedge, Nick Sharples, Tom Fothergill, Will Rankin. Team Manager Mr. S Howell

THE TEAMS

Skipton: Keir Nelson (Capt), Haroon Ali, Peter Herbert, Arslan Nasir, Andrew Watson, Daniel Clayton, Guy Andrews, Ben Holderness, Adam Collett, Ahmed Amro Team Manager Mr. G Owens.

Embsay: John Golson, LLoyd Davies, Henry Barrow, Joshua Robinson, Luke Stockton, Ryan Sumner, Jake Parker, Freddie Midgeley, Jonathan Triffit, Ben Stockton, Alistair Massey Team Manager Mr. A Davies