When the Oakworth club needed a batsman to support the blossoming talents of Wilfrid Scarborough it was Barry Cyril Sayer who stepped into that breach at the age of 19 in 1964. His new home at Bingley, far from his Dales origins in Cray, enabled Barry to have his pick of West Bradford League clubs. Fortunately he chose Oakworth.

Like his long-time buddy Wilfrid, Barry has been part of the Oakworth scene well beyond normal expectations.

The addition of Dales’ lad Sayer, who made his debut on 4^th July with 3 runs against Eldwick, seemed to have been the missing piece of the batting jigsaw as Oakworth finished the campaign with 7 wins on the trot and more pertinently in second place. It was a genuine promotion to the First Division, only 2 points behind Morton Banks. Certainly Barry played his part in the promotion push with valuable knocks in four of those games including his first fifty against Riddlesden.

1975 was a season to remember for Barry. It was a year of settlement in the First Division and he set a club record of five half-centuries in one season on his way to another club record 521 runs.

The 1977 Keighley Charity Cup Final will for ever be associated with the batting of Barry Sayer. Our opposition came from Ingrow who won the toss and asked us to bat. Openers Colin Greenwood & Barry put on 117 runs for the first wicket before Greenwood was out for 51 at 6.30pm. The match was affected by several interruptions for rain and Barry was fourth out for a magnificent 88 at 7.15 pm that night.

A late flurry of 31 in 27 minutes by Jeff Inman helped Oakworth through the two-hundred barrier. Thanks to Barry's solid defiance a final total of 213 for 8 was always going to be very difficult to beat. Jeff Moor and Dennis Bottomley contained the Ingrow batsmen beautifully with Moor having only 19 runs off his first 10 overs. Ingrow were all out the following day for 97 with Moor finishing with 7 for 38. A note of interest was all the Ingrow batsmen were out caught!

And so after 62 years the First XI had some more silverware to show for their efforts and the Keighley Charity Cup went back to pride of place in the Oakworth clubhouse.

The 1977 season brought Wilf Scarborough the league batting prize with 704 runs but not to be outdone Barry picked up five league fifties again to add to his patient 88 in the Cup final. He made 579 runs to also shatter the record he himself set 2 years earlier.

There was a third season of success for Barry in 1979 when he again passed 500 runs for the season (541).

Two years on in 1981 Barry Sayer for a change gleaned the really big scores with his first century (103) against J Nelsons and a 2nd for good measure against Haworth West End (100) in an all-conquering 1981 season in Division Two of the Craven & District League.

Barry’s run tally landed the Division Two batting Prize (average 49.18, a club high).

The 1984 Charity Cup Final was another big stage for Barry to carve his name large. The Oxenhope captain put Oakworth in to bat and surviving 1977 Cup medallists Barry and Jeff Inman chalked up 52 before they were parted. Something of a mini collapse followed and at 68 for 4 a large total did not seem likely as Wilf Scarborough had gone for only 1 run. Parker, Brunskill and Moor helped the score along to an attainable 146. Captain Dave Hardman once again excelled on the Lawkholme Lane ground he once regularly graced. He picked up six Oxenhope wickets for 53 off 19 overs to break the back of their innings. They finished on 124, 22 runs short of the Oakworth total and our lads brought home the Cup for the second time in eight years.

At Skipton on 30^th July 1988 a momentous 500^th match brought only 5 runs but a place in history as only the second to reach that pinnacle. In 1991 Barry Sayer’s form again picked up and he achieved his third ton against Bradley to add further to the selection committee’s work.

Barry opted to extend his career in the Second XI and in 1995, drought year, he and Mick Beckett each exceeded 500 League runs in the same season for the only time.

There were three Division Three Championships with the Second XI in 1992, 1998 and 2001, all of which featured runs from the irrepressible Barry Sayer. But pride of place will surely be those two Keighley Cup winners medals of 1977 and 1984. 

Barry Cyril Sayer made a total of 599 appearances (497 league) for Oakworth First XI between 1964 and 1991. He added another 132 for the Seconds before finally binning the boots in 2002 at the age of 57.

He played 477 First XI innings racking up 9,133 runs with his awkward but oh-so effective left-handed batting style. He had soon graduated to opener and made 3 centuries from the no 1 berth. The last of these came in 1991 came at the age of 46, 10 years after the others! Barry can look back on 2 fifties in Cup Finals, but like his pal Wilfrid he never got his hands on a First XI Championship medal.

Add 2,996 runs for the 2nd XI then chuck in a personal medal count for Barry of four Keighley Cup runners up awards (1965, 1970 1978 & 1986), two Wynn Cup runner-up gongs (1982 & 1991), and a Cowling Cup runner up (1994) memento.

Barry can count 38 fifties for the First XI plus 13 for the Second XI. He shares 12 partnerships of 100 for the First XI and two for the Seconds. The highest of 139 is shared with Peter Salter, set in 1981. When thinking of renowned "red-inkers" Barry's name wouldn't automatically spring to mind but surprisingly he leads the field with 73 from his 477 trips to the wicket.

From 1978 "Bazzer" or “Swoop” as he is affectionately known combined his playing career with that of an extremely hard-working club secretary until 2002. Without doubt his Life Membership, aged only 52, in 1997 was justice done indeed.

Oakworth First XI  1964 to 1991, Second XI 1992 to 2002

Keighley Cup winners Medals, 1977 & 1984

Division 3 Championships 1992, 1998 & 2001