Triangle win exciting final

Blackley v Copley. Copley bowler Richard Turner.

Needing 10 to win off the final over, bowled by Jimmy Sarwar, Triangle skipper John Moore picked up a single off the first ball before Martin Silkstone hit the next two for a four and six.

Warley had gone into the game as hot favourites as they attempted to become the first team ever to win the Halifax League’s second team cup competition for four years in a row.

Sent in to bat, they lost three early wickets but Liam Keywood hit 78 not out to help them recover to 206 for eight.

That looked more than enough when Triangle mustered barely 20 runs off 18 overs, as experienced pair Craig Brennan and Rob Keywood bowled their nine over allocations with great accuracy.

Brennan, incredibly, conceded just one single and Triangle also lost three of their top order batsmen cheaply.

It was left to Tony Sykes to lift the momentum with 57, including a few big sixes.

Richard Turner added 67 to his earlier two for nine off nine overs and Ryan O’Neill made 32 before departing in the penultimate over.

It was left to Silkstone to apply the finishing blows and earn Triangle a ninth Crossley Shield success, putting them joint top of the chart with Warley.

Turner was man of the match in a final supported by the Rotary Club of Sowerby Bridge.

Moore, who has had seven Crossley Shield final wins and five as captain, said: “I am absolutely delighted. Warley hammered us at Triangle a few weeks ago in the league by 12 points to nil. But we have a lot of players who have been in finals before.”