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Upper Wharfedale lose again despite Eggleton’s bold efforts
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| Upper Wharfedale captain James Freebury had a knock of 28 on Saturday. |
Upper Wharfedale's start to the season went from bad to worse at Steeton on Saturday. After only taking one point in the first game they suffered the same fate against local rivals Steeton.
On a fine day, Steeton won the toss and stuck Wharfedale in to bat and new opener Dave Eggleton and regular Andrew Foulds got off to a good start before Foulds was lbw to Gary Boulton for 13.
Overseas player Ben Way looked good at the start of his innings but failed to go on.
Captain James Freebury and Eggleton put on 60, and Wharfedale were looking good for a a challenging score but when Freebury was dismissed for 28 caught behind off the bowling of Andrew Luxton, Wharfedale were 88-3.
Stephen Pearson, a new recruit from Steeton, was dismissed for two and a collapse looked likley but some good hitting from the middle order including a brace of sixes by Chris Butt allowed Wharfe-dale to reach 154. Boulton finished with impressive figures of five for 69 in 16 overs.
Steeton's reply started strongly with an opening partnership of 44 from Richard Atkins (15) and Luxton (24) but a mini collapse started by an Eggelton wicket meant the Aire Valley side were struggling on 63-3.
Wharfedale's slow bowlers Eggleton and Dan Daggett bowled well in tandem and were economical.
When Neil Spragg went for eight and Robinson was out lbw first ball, the game had changed and was set for an outcome no-one could predict.
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| Dave Eggleton of Upper Whatfedale hit 46 and took 4-56. |
But a solid batting performance from John Akrigg and new skipper Jon Best saw Steeton ease home with seven balls to spare and five wickets down. Akrigg finished on 45 not out and Best 31 not out.
Eggleton had an impressive day. His well earned 46 with the bat was followed by a long spell of bowling which saw him return figures of four for 56 in 19 overs.
This Saturday Steeton travel to Tong Park, whilst Wharfedale - needing to kick start their season - go to New Rover.
Skipton's successful start to the season continued when they took on relegated Hall Park at Sandylands on Saturday.
Skipton were put in by the opposition and 13 was certainly unlucky for opener Matt Walker as he found himself out at that total when he was run out.
Kevin Owens and Azhar Mahmood rebuilt the innings and steadily the score increased to 94 before Mahmood was bowled. He had given several difficult chances but grafted away to build the solid stand with Owens.
On the damp pitch the four bowlers used plugged away with opener Nadeem Hanif maintaining a tight length from the rugby field end.
Stephen Carling was batting well scoring five boundaries in his 26 before being trapped lbw by a ball that was kept low.
With 11 overs to go Skipton were on 126-4 with opener Owens out for a battling 58.
His departure thrust youngsters Ricky Martin and Gary Owens into the spotlight and they smashed the ball around and out of the park.
Whilst the crowd were looking for the ball Owens nonchalantly informed them that it was rolling down the adjacent main road!
The pair shared a quick-fire stand of 90 which took the game away from Hall Park. Martin finished on 45 and Owens (38 not out).
The final score of 217-6 looked substantial on the damp pitch and dropped catches by Hall Park proved expensive.
Skipton took the field and in the seventh over Gary Owens struck by having opener Butt caught at first slip by Car-ling.
Owens and Chris Walker kept a tight grip on proceedings before spinners Ajay Rajput and Andrew Fergie entered the attack. At the drinks break Hall Park were 57-2.
Opening bowler Nadeem Hanif hit a few lofty blows but was soon bowled by Rajput.
Any chance of a win seemed to dwindle away on his departure and it was left to wicket keeper Tanveer and Josh Hobson to play out the innings for a draw and a final score of 131-7 with the wickets shared between Owens, Rajput and Fergie.
Some excellent catches were taken especially one by Rajput at mid-wicket, but some were also put down leaving Skipton a little work to do in this department.
This was another fine Skipton performance gaining five points from the match. This Saturday Skipton travel to Thackley.
Skipton 2nd XI bounced back from their opening day defeat by firing out Silsden for 28 with just 16 runs being scored from the bat.
Ji Mukherjee, captain Graham Summersgill and Zafar Iqbal were the chief destroyers each taking three wickets with Richard Walker taking the remaining one.
Winning was not plain sailing as Skipton lost four wickets in pursuit of the total leaving returning players to the club Iqbal and Shabbir Hussain to finally knock off the runs required in the ninth over. This was a quiet day for the scorer and left the team with a very early return to Skipton.
Opening bowler Zeeshan Qasim took nine wickets as Silsden recorded an easy five-wicket victory at Calverley.
Qasim, who was Silsden's overseas player last year, was at his best on a wicket which favoured the bowlers. Qasim's figures were nine for 29 in 15.1 overs.
Out of his nine wickets, five were clean bowled, including the final wicket of the match when Qasim hit the stumps and sent the bails flying.
After Silsden went into the clubhouse for tea, a humble Qasim said: "I always try the best I can for the team. I'm happy with the performance. It was the best of my career."
Qasim's previous best figures were seven for 21 against Horsforth last season. He was the top wicket taker in the Aire-Wharfe League's Second Division last season with 65.
Silsden captain Lee Bilbrough said: "He bowls head and shoulders above everyone else. We don't expect it but he seems to produce it."
The only wicket that Qasim did not take on Saturday went to new Silsden recruit, James Hall, who came from Addingham.
Silsden bowled a strengthened Calverley team out for just 108 in 30.1 overs. New Calverley recruit and captain Basil King, who came from Bradford League side Esholt, offered some stiff early resistance to the Silsden bowling attack. He scored 38 before being caught and bowled by Qasim.
3:08pm Thursday 1st May 2008
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