Sunday 13th August 2007

The early rain on Sunday looked to cast doubt on the 2007 Cowling Cup final taking place. However thanks to the cover over the wicket and some sterling work by Glusburn, the two captains of Haworth Road ll and Oakworth ll were ready and eager to go and an enthralling final, starting 30 minutes late, ensued, with plenty of excitement and incident for the crowd to enjoy.

Haworth Road skipper Les Gudgeon won the toss and elected to bat. Peter Shaw was first to go, bowled by precocious teenager Luke Taylor for 14. Charles Briggs and Josh Crookes took the score to 100 where the former went to the first ball by leg spinning u-15 Jack Hainsworth for 41. Richard Gill went for 27 at 139 also to a first ball, bowled by Richard Cavender. Crookes was then enticed by Paul McCullough to hit the ball straight to Hainsworth and he was out for a useful 44. Tasif Khan, 3, and Andy Griggs, 8, perished as the score reached 175-6. Shami Ali and Suhail Ahmed began to crash the ball to all parts of the ground in a blistering stand which took the score to 246-6 at the close of their overs. Ali had made 59no and Ahmed 22no. It was a pity Jack Ellis suffered most in the carnage as his first 7 overs went for 32 and he finished with 0-80 off 10 overs.

In the Oaks reply Lee Hollingsworth and Jack Hainsworth were untroubled against some hostile bowling by Ali and Ahmed. However at 34 Hainsworth was adjudged lbw for 7. Matt Lonsdale was introduced to the attack and he clean bowled Hollingsworth for 30 with the score at 40. Luke Taylor went for 19 at 70. Lonsdale then had a super spell to take the Third Division side's score from 80-3 to 80-6. He had Richard Cavender caught behind for 1 then bowled potential match-winners  Steve Powell and Robert Hollingsworth for ducks. Jack Ellis was joined by Jon Hollingsworth and the pair set off in pursuit of their target. They were making good progress with Ellis getting his own back on the bowlers but at 154 he was bowled by the running Ali for a very good 53. The run rate was over 10 an over by the free-flowing Jon Hollingsworth and with Paul McCullough he strained every sinew to rescue the cup from the grasp of Les Gudgeon. Just before the close of the innings Jon, third team skipper, sent the ball to the boundary for 4 to bring up a very popular and well received half century. The innings closed on 206-7 with McCullough on 10no and Hollingsworth 53no, the pair having put on 52 for the 7 wicket.

So a successive new name, Haworth Road II, was added to the Cowling Cup and the presentations were made by League Secretary, Ann Coe, on behalf of sponsors JMS Ltd. The umpires, Roy Tordoff-Durn and Fred Heaton, decided that Shami Ali was the man of the match for his blistering innings of 59no in addition to his 2-40 when bowling.

Sunday 13th August 2006

Another horribly wet day was on the cards for Oakworth CC's second tilt at the Cowling Cup. Our only previous experience of the Final was back in 1994 and that proved an utter disaster. This time the XI had convincing wins against the Second XIs from Barrowford, Cononley, Foulridge & holders Cowling to back their claims. The weather at Crossflatts started OK but, as forecast, deteriorated later necessitating a return on the Monday evening.

Openers Simon Howell and Paul McCullough provided a very experienced duo to set the Oaks ball rolling hopefully towards the right pocket. The bowling of Zufur Iqbal for opponents Embsay lls was though quite capable of matching that and he made an early breakthrough with the vital wicket of Simon for just 8 at 13-1. He was caught by Ben Airey after a stay of 22 balls. By the eighth over number 3 Paul Carter had joined Simon in the pavilion run out for a solitary single and the poor start now stood at 15-2. It was to get worse, much worse as the highly promising Scott Hartley was bowled by the wily Naz Hussain for a 10-ball duck. At 26-3 the innings was on a dangerouus course and that course became a positive minefield with the caught and bowled by Iqbal of the stoical Paul McCullough who had dug in for a 28-ball score of 5. At 28-4 and with two new batsmen at the wicket another potential disaster loomed. But the two were Oaks most successful two in 2007; Richard Cavender and Robert Hollingsworth.

A recovery stand unfolded with young Robert keen not to let the innings dawdle. His 16-ball stay brought him 16 runs whilst Richard took the lions share with 28 in the 44-run partnership. Robert was caught by Andy Bell off the dobblers from Simon Holt at 72-5. The right hand - left hand combination of Cavender and Nigel Lockley continued the excellent foundation laid in the fifth wicket. In fact it passed the half-century mark before it was broken by Holt again courtesy of A Longden. It lasted 12 overs and brought a relieving 53 runs. It was Nigel who was caught for 26 from 36 balls. Richard though was in fine fettle, seeing the ball well despite the gathering storm clouds. With 11 overs left Skipper Stevie Powell hit a rapid fire 15 from 14 balls, but lost Richard along the way sadly run out on 49 (54 balls). The innings finally ran out at 149 after 42.2 overs. The cunning Simon Holt had 3 wickets but had shipped 58 runs from his 11.2 overs. Zufur Iqbal had 2-26 from 10.

Against many people's judgement the Embsay innings started with an obvious curtailment fairly imminent. But there were no complaints from Oaks as 4 consecutive maidens brought the prize wicket of Brian Hodgson for nought after he had had 10 balls. It went to Scott Hartley, bowling with fire and not inconsiderable pace. He had Paul Carter to thank for an excellent catch in the gully. Mike Tucker and Zufur Iqbal maintained their wickets well taking the score on to 14-1 when the rain finally hit.

On Monday evening a reasonable sized crowd re-gathered to see the potentially exciting conclusion. They didn't have to wait long, just until the 14th over for Hartley to strike again and splatter the timbers of the disconsolate Tucker for 8 off a patient 43 balls. It was 30-2. Iqbal looked very potent on 17 including two hefty sixes, one each off Ian Jackson and Hartley. Alan Robinson paired with Zufur and once again the score moved but at a snail's pace. They added 17 in almost 10 overs of accurate bowling from all the Oaks bowlers. It was Oaks left armer Paul McCullough who winkled out the Embsay left hander, lbw for 11 (off 42 balls) at 47-3 in the 24th over. Nevertheless there remained 21 overs and the Embsay side needed 103 runs to win, still attainable. The losses of Naz Hussain for 13 and junior Nathan Robinson also for 13 changed the picture somewhat and 59-5 in the 30th over presented a sterner challenge. Once again both scalps went to McCullough as the principal weapon of attack. When the wicket of Simon Holt was snapped up cool as a cucumber by Robert Hollingsworth to give Paul his fourth (4-18) at 76-6 the writing was on the wall for Embsay. Number eight David Barrett wasn't destined to stay long but he did witness the opening of the shoulders from Zufur Iqbal. Barrett made just 1 but Zufur exploded two more sixes to keep all the Oaks fielders well towards the boundary. It was 97-7 when Barrett departed and there remained 8 overs to grab the 53 needed for victory.

With Iqbal in calculating mood there was no telling how it might go. Ben Airey provided a good foil for the former Skipton man and he made 9 from the 19 they added in 4 overs. The Embsay side consisted of 10 men as Andy Bell was unable to make the extension into Monday so the last pairing was A Longden and Iqbal. 34 were required off the last 24 balls. McCullough had bowled his allotted 12 overs claiming 5-35 as the architect of the seemingly likely Oaks victory. Oaks had introduced a fifth bowler in Michael Davison and one six from Iqbal had the worry beads out in force. But fear not as Mickey D got one through to keeper Nigel Lockley and in a flash Iqbal was gone for 46 leaving the innings at a close on 116 all out.

Whilst for Embsay the absence of batsman Andy Bell was a severe handicap it was a wonderfully tightly controlled bowling performance that had done the trick and at long last at the 28th time of asking Oakworth had won the coveted Cowling Cup. For Scott Hartley his first final brought him 2-19 off 8 overs whilst Ben Holmes was wicket-less he relinquished only 16 runs from his 7 overs. Ian Jackson maintained his nagging line and length for 1-16 off 10 whilst Mickey D had 1-21 off 26 balls. League Secretaries Mr & Mrs Coe announced that Paul McCullough had won the man of the match award.