Thorpe turns it on - six days too late

Oliver Thorpe showed Copley what they missed in last Sunday's Parish Cup final at Sowerby SP with a fine display in the Spenser Wilson Halifax League yesterday.
T20 cricket finals at Copley CC. Semi-final - Copley v Jerr Lane. Oliver Thorpe bowls for Copley.T20 cricket finals at Copley CC. Semi-final - Copley v Jerr Lane. Oliver Thorpe bowls for Copley.
T20 cricket finals at Copley CC. Semi-final - Copley v Jerr Lane. Oliver Thorpe bowls for Copley.

Thorpe, one of three high-profile absentees as Copley lost to Booth six days earlier, hit 91 not out and took seven for 79 on his club’s quick return to St Peter’s club.

However, Thorpe was desperately short of backing and third-from-bottom Copley lost the Premier Division match to Sowerby by three wickets.

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Thorpe, man of the match in the 2014 cup final win over Jer Lane, batted all 45 overs as Copley made 175 for seven with Mohammed Seraj’s 26 the next best contribution.

However, Sowerby had their own star all-rounder in Matthew Hoyle, who followed up his five for 73 with 40 not out to clinch victory for the hosts after Aiden Green (64) had helped Sowerby recover from three for two.

The good news for Copley was that the two sides currently occupying the relegation slots, Blackley and Northowram Hedge Top, also lost.

Jon Stenson made 71 for bottom side Blackley at Mytholmroyd. However, his tally was eclipsed by the hosts’ Jack Earle with 111 as ‘Royd successfully chased 205 to win, getting there with four wickets to spare.

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SBCI’s Craig Potts gave hosts Northowram a batting lesson at Hedge Top Lane.

The visiting opener made a chanceless 128 not out, batting throughout the innings as SBCI posted 251 for eight.

Most of the Rams batsmen were responsible for their own downfalls as their side never threatened to mount a challenge to the visitors’ total, finishing on 204 for nine with Jamie Sykes taking five for 75 up the slope.

Top three Booth, Jer Lane and Warley all won with the leaders picking up 11 points to their rivals’ 12.

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Booth, whose advantage is now six points over Lane, batted visitors Thornton out of the game with 114 from Robert Laycock, 92 from Steve Senior, 64 not out from Nigel Horsfall and 51 from Hasnain Wajid.

Booth piled up 373 for six but Thornton were in no mood to roll over and Josh Hutchinson’s 65 helped them to 272 for nine, last pair Tom Ashley and Mick Shanks denying Booth maximum points.

Raqeeb Younas, one of Jer Lane’s captures just before the transfer deadline, made 120 in his side’s 101-run win at home to Triangle.

Lane made 279 for six and Triangle could only manage 178 with Nasir Chowdry taking four wickets.

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Warley recovered from a disastrous start to beat Sowerby Bridge by 24 runs at Stainland.

Their top three batsmen made only four runs between them as Ashton Richardson struck early but Shazad Hassan (76) helped Warley post 174.

Luke Duckitt then took four for 30 as Bridge fell short on a big ground.

Bridgeholme notched the win of the day in Division One, beating visitors Queensbury and allowing Oxenhope to go back on top.

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Queensbury’s 157 was much below par at Eastwood with only Bradley Gerrard-Harrison (70) and Phil Sharples (43) reaching double figures.

Bridgeholme showed more solidity and Bobby Fielden (54 no) and Yasir Mahmood (45 no) completed a seven-wicket win.

Third-placed Bridgeholme’s next opponents are leaders Oxenhope, who had a 115 run victory over Stones after an outstanding batting display from Craig Bartlett (120).

He was supported by Lewis Hopkinson (66) and big hitters Jack Barker (59) and Joseph Ousey (51) in a colossal 344 for eight.

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Oxenhope’s bowling didn’t match the batting and Stones made 229 for eight, Ted Conlon top scoring with 58.

Matthew Haley (five for 15) is the latest to expose Old Crossleyans’ batting weaknesses.

He helped bottom side Low Moor bowl out the Broomfield men for 97 after the hosts had posted 198 for seven with Graham Scarborough (52) the top scorer.

with Low Moor HT 198-7 (Scarborough 52

Hussain Syed hit 42 runs and took five for 23 as Great Horton PC won by 63 runs at Southowram.

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Paul Fenton brought the game to an abrupt finish with three wickets for no runs in eight deliveries.

They may have been partying at Boston Hill on Saturday evening after Old Town belatedly got of the mark for 2016 in Division Two.

It was a close run affair at Calder Valley rivals Luddenden Foot were beaten by three runs.

Town were on the ropes until Shaz Mahmood (48) and Ali Asghar (36 no) lifted their score to 140 for seven.

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It was then Foot’s turn to struggle as all four home bowlers returned good figures, opener Adil Shah return to bowl the last two Foot batsmen and claim a dramatic victory.

Fellow strugglers Greetland are still waiting to taste success but put up a bold show in as three-wicket defeat by Upper Hopton.

Greetland only made 109 but the visitors to West Vale took 31 overs and lost seven wickets before reaching their target, Christian Soulsby top scoring with 25 and taking three for 39 for the hosts.

Shelf maintained their outside chance of promotion with a five-wicket win at Clayton.

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An unbeaten 132 run sixth-wicket partnership between Barbar Malik (88 no) and Steve Priestley (54 no) gave Shelf an unlikely success after they had been 84 for five in pursuit of Clayton’s 210.

Denholme Clough opener Imram Aslam fell one short of a century at home to neighbours Bradshaw but had the consolation of moving his side a step nearer the title in a six-wicket win.

Steve Welch (87) and Ben Burkill (71) set up a 109-run win for second-placed Cullingworth over Outlane, ex-Northowram Fields player Burkill also taking three wickets.

Premier Division:*Booth 376-6 (Rob Laycock 114, Senior 92, Horsfall 62*, Wajid 51, J Hutchinson 4-105), Thornton 272-9 (J Hutchinson 65, Soames 48, N Hutchinson 37, Saghir 4-44): pts 11-4. *Copley 175-7 (Thorpe 91*, Hoyle 5-73), Sowerby St Peter’s 177-7 (Green 64, Hoyle 40*, Thorpe 7-79): pts 4-10. *Jer Lane 279-6 (Younas 120, Lister 37*, Hall 34, Pinfield 34, Gledhill 3-79), Triangle 178 (Gledhill 38, Crosland 35, Chowdrey 4-72, Johnson 3-46): pts 12-3. Blackley 204-8 (Stenson 71, Taufeeq 3-64), *Mytholmroyd 206-6 (Earle 111): pts 4-11. SBCI 251-8, *Northowram HT 204-9: pts 11-5. Warley 174 (Hassan 76, Mellor 4-52, Dixon 3-39, Richardson 3- 31), *Sowerby Bridge 150 (Duckitt 4-30): pts 12-5.

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Division One: Queensbury 166 (Gerrard-Harrison 70, Sharples 43, Davy-Day 4-33, Khan 3-45), *Bridgeholme 170-3 (Fielden 54*, Y Mahmood 45*, Kibble 32): pts 2-12. *Low Moor HT 198-7 (Scarborough 52, T Williams 47, Jenkins 42*, P Reynolds 4-53), Old Crossleyans 97 (Haley 5-15): pts 12-2. *Oxenhope 344-5, Stones 229-8: pts 11-4. Great Horton PC 198-9 (Beesley 58*, A Syed 43, H Syed 42, Gledhill 3-33), *Southowram 135 (Moody 40, H Syed 5-23, Fenton 3-0, Jordan 3-30): pts 12-3.

Division Two: *Clayton 210 (Shackleton 63, C Ramsden 34, M Priestley 3-33, R Ramsden 3-45, S Priestley 3-72), Shelf 216-5 (Malik 88*, S Priestley 54*, Mistry 4-53): pts 4-12. *Cullingworth 255-7 (S Welch 87, Burkhill 71, C Welch 30, Ainley 3-67, Wrigley 3-71), Outlane 146 (Westwood 42, Blagborough 34, Rankin 3-22, Birkhill 3-30): pts 12-4. Bradshaw 167 (Spendelow 37, Ryan 33, Safar 4-39, Akram 3-48), *Denholme Clough (I Aslam 99, Yousaf 33*, Buckley 3-45): pts 3-12. *Greetland 109 (Stanger 4-30, Iqbal 3-22), Upper Hopton 111-7 (Wightman 34, Hayat 4-62, Soulsby 3-39): pts 3-12. Luddenden Foot 137, *Old Town 140-7: pts 3-12.