Northowram v Booth

Booth won by 1 run : Booth 10 pts, Northowram 3 pts

Booth 267 for three

J. Mosley not out

M. Brown c S. Gardner b Beecham

I. Sharkey c Taylor b Beecham

R. Laycock c Arnot b Taylor

W. Ali not out

Extras

Bowling:

S. Gardener 10-0-73-0, A. Gardener 12-4-39-0

J. Beecham 7-0-28-2, P. Taylor 11-2-79-1

M. Reed 3-0-25-0

 

Northowram 266

R. Leach c Cockroft b Sharkey

R. Moore c Collinge b Laycock

C. Metcalf lbw Ali

S. Parkinson c Sharkey b Collinge

N. Hall c Johntone b Collinge

M. Arnot lbw Sharkey

J. Beecham st Cockroft b Collinge

M. Reed run out

A. Gardener c Cockroft b Collinge

S. Gardener c Ali b Laycock

P. Taylor not out

Extras

Bowling:

R. Laycock 13.4-3-72-2, O. Collinge 17-1-98-4

I. Sharkey 8-2-51-2, W. Ali 4-0-33-1

 

102

   7

   1

103

  16

  38

 33

   3

105

   0

   0

   0

 83

 13

   0

 18

   0

 11

Dazzling Laycock Sets Up Thriller

Richard Laycock scored a dazzling 64-ball century as Booth overcame Northowram by one run with two balls to spare.

Put in on a damp wicket Booth paced their innings superbly to finish on a healthy 267 for 3. Young Laycock took particular liking to Bradford League veteran, Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor. Like Hebden Bridge this week, Taylor looked decidedly short of juice as Laycock slapped him out of the ground for six of his nine sixes in a majestic knock.  Skipper Jim Mosley chipped-in with a chanceless 102 not out.

Young Richard has grown in stature this season and is developing into a high-class all rounder. His knock combined some Goweresque flicks and drives plus some effortless big hitting. We can only be grateful that the ECB’s daft restrictions to his bowling are not applied to his batting, otherwise we would have been robbed of one of the knocks of the summer.

In reply, Northowram gave it their best with wicketkeeper Chris Metcalf scoring a remarkable hundred himself. A brilliant combination of invention, impudence, and bold hitting took him to three figures. But with wickets falling at the other end it was left to a swashbuckling 83 from Jon Beecham to get the target in range. But his dismissal meant The Rams needed 8 from the last over.

Young Sam Gardner stepped up and hooked Laycock for a huge six, but then agonisingly chipped straight to waiting hands of Wajid Ali, who gleefully accepted the catch to give Booth 10 points.