County side too strong for Halifax

Halifax League v Yoirkshire XI at Sowerby Bridge

They made 136-8 in reply to Yorkshire’s 195-8 in front of a crowd of around 250 people on a glorious sunny evening at Walton Street.

A couple of players with good reason to remember the game were Yorkshire’s James Wainman, who took a hat-trick with the Halifax League side on 103 in their reply, and Booth’s Richard Laycock, who made an unbeaten half-century against the county side.

The main beneficiaries, though, were Sowerby Bridge CC, who were rewarded for more than two years of hard work after the Boxing Day floods of 2015, which led to their clubhouse being gutted and the pitch needing relaying.

Halifax League chairman Anthony Briggs thanked the Yorkshire team and their coach Ian Dews, home team organisers Andrew Pinfield and Geoff Wright and all those who had helped the host club recover from the floods.

Ross Parr (Thornton), Laycock (Booth) and Jack Gledhill (Triangle) took a wicket each to leave Yorkshire wobbling on 72 for three, Matthew Waite having made 41.

However, Ben Birkhead’s 63 and Jarrod Warner’s 28 helped the Headingley side to a useful total in spite of some good fielding and decent bowling, led by Gledhill with 2-26 off three overs and Oliver Thorpe (Copley) with 2-15 off two.

The Halifax League were facing embarrassment at 15-4 in reply but a 75-run stand between Laycock (55 no) and Thorpe (39) steadied the ship.

Wainwright took three wickets in three balls with the total on 103 on the way to figures of 4-33 and although Warley’s Dan Syme (11) and SBCI’s Simon Wood (18 no) added late runs, the county men were comfortable winners.