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Cricket - Towergate Halifax League: Leading duo cross swords
IT is anybody's guess what lies in store in the second half of the season after a totally unpredictable first 11 sets of results in the Premier Division.
A wide open title race was anticipated but nobody could have predicted a top three comprising promoted clubs Blackley and Jer Lane plus last year's third-from-bottom finishers Sowerby St Peters at this stage.
Champions Warley and 2008 runners-up Booth have surely too much to do to get involved in the title race while Sowerby Bridge, regarded by many as the strongest team on paper, are also languishing in the bottom half of the table.
The opening day fixture between Blackley and Sowerby hardly looked one to get the pulse racing unless you happened to be a member of either of those clubs. Blackley won it prior to the pair going on superb unbeaten league runs which have been ended by Jer Lane in the last fortnight.
The joint leaders meet again at Sowerby tomorrow with the home side looking to put another dent in the confidence of Blackley, who fell victim to some spectacular batting from Booth's Rick Laycock in the Parish Cup quarter finals 11 days ago before suffering a more worrying home defeat by Lane last week.
Blackley were 76 for eight in reply to Lane's 239 for eight before being dismissed for 123 and tomorrow they will come up against the league's top bowler this season, Martin Schofield. Although Schofield is a slow bowler, he operates with the new ball and his head-to-head with Blackley's prolific ex-Elland opening batsman Reece Jennison will be a key contest.
At the foot of the table, Southowram, Old Crossleyans and Northowram HT are the teams most sweating on their Premier futures.
Southowram won their first two games but have beaten only Warley since, in spite of skipper Dean Crossley and Ian Gledhill having scored more than 900 runs between them.
The Crocs have won three of their last seven games after a disastrous start while Northowram have managed only two wins in total, yet their seconds top the league.
"Mr Bridgeholme CC" Keith Hudson reckons there is little between any of the teams in the middle section and although his side are bottom following their promotion as Division Two champions, he puts that down to some very narrow defeats.
Copley make a rare trip to Low Moor for a battle of the leading pair but whether either could make a mark in the Premier at the moment is open to debate.
Copley, of course, were in the top flight last season and have lost some key batsmen since their relegation.
Division Two leaders Stones face a crucial test of their title credentials tomorrow. They are at home to third-placed Outlane, who will be looking to take a chunk out of the 12-point gap between the sides.
Outlane won the opening day meeting with the help of five wickets from Anwar Shokat but Stones have been very impressive since, dropping only two points.
Second-placed Clayton, whose only defeat came at Stones three weeks since, face a tricky trip to a Shelf side who have had three successive maximum points wins.
UMPIRES appointments chief Andrew Mitchell is three umpires short for tomorrow. Anyone who finds themselves available should ring him on Halifax 356365.
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Weather for Halifax
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -2 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North west
