SKELMANTHORPE WIN THE BATTLE OF THE BOTTOM TWO

SKELMANTHORPE 169 FOR 2 BARKISLAND 164 ALL OUT
DRAKES HUDDERSFIELD PREMIERSHIP AT LIDGETT LANE
5 AUGUST 2017 --- 1PM

SKELMANTHORPE CC BELOW THE EMLEY TV TOWER

In the word of Selwyn Froggitt 'magic our......Skelmanthorpe' after the Bill Maynard character in the famous 1970's TV comedy Oh No Its Selwyn Froggitt filmed around the streets of the village.  This game featured the battle of the bottom two with the result going to form.  It was a slow burner of a match with plenty missing the bat and generally the ball was not clearing the square to often with the Halifax based visitors bowled out for 164 in 37 overs.  The reply from Skelmanthorpe was at times just above 2 an over but with wickets in hand it was a cautious approach that secured victory thanks to a sensible 63 from Allan Greenwood.
So much time am I spending in Yorkshire there may be a requirement soon to apply for citizenship of the great ,so the Yorkshire men tell me, county.  Todays journey was a slightly longer method than normal due to rail engineering work stopping all trains south at Penistone.  On arrival at base station it was clear that football was back in swing with police, football fans and a fair amount of alcohol in presence at just short of 10am.  Normally the blog goes back to football as soon as the season begins but this summer the cricket as been enjoyable and there has undoubtedly been a pull to the Huddersfield League and its picturesque grounds.  Back to the journey with the usual change at Sheffield and there was time to become acquainted again with platform 1b soon arriving in Penistone and off in search of the rail replacement bus service.  I say bus service it was more of a mini coach that officially seated 2 people per seat row but believe me it was one and a small hamster, not that I had one to measure this criteria.  The delights of contracted in JM Coaches of Barnsley get me to the heights of Denby Dale station just in time for the Yorkshire Tiger Huddersfield service that would take me to todays destination.  The great thing about Yorkshire Tiger is the orange tiger strewn buses and the liveried seats in tiger camouflage.  Climbing towards Skelmanthorpe you cold spot the non local as I stared out of the window at the imposing Emley Moor TV tower, now seen from probably all angles, while the locals just looked at their phones and papers oblivious to this engineering achievement.

SKELMANTHORPE MINUS THE HOT DOG WAGON

Fast foot onto the streets of Skel and with an hour to go a little wander around the back streets brought me back onto the main business area Commercial St and the chance to take a picture from the opening scenes of Series 1 of Oh No Its Selwyn Froggitt where our hero [?] cycles down the series village of Scarsdale past the miners welfare towards the Coop when he spots his brother Maurice in The Blue Lagoon Café with female company so taken aback is he that he crashes into the back of an unlikely placed hot dog van.  As he extricates himself from the tangle wreckage Froggitt declares to the hot dog seller 'I will have a nice big one with onions please'!  Scene relived there was time for a wander around the notice boards and further research although the village seems to have made little of it so far I discover that the new and first female Dr Who Jodie Whittaker was born and raised in the village.

CLUBHOUSE AT LIDGETT LANE

The Coop was to be my part home today a couple of visits before the climb to the ground saw me purchase a pack of pens, much needed but dour I know but follow the tale.  Off to Lidgett Lane and the ground is surrounding by a variety of modern and older style stone houses and the delightfully named Ponker Nook Lane which really should be its home name.  The approach drive way gives up at the top end a bungalow style clubhouse with changing rooms to the right hand side in a lofted position and to the left a small separate building for the Umpires.  The bar is a comfortable area with the usual collection of historical additions from the clubs successes and with a selection of green tip up seats around the front and veranda positions it gives for a homely feel for the locals.  Sadly today the electronic scoreboard has a problem and positioned in the corner aloft the grounds mans garage it will not be in action so we make do with a manual scoreboard efficiently operated by our home scorer.  As ever thank you to todays umpires and scorers for your assistance its much appreciated.  the ground then is pretty flat except for a slight slope towards Lidgett Lane and with a wide selection and indeed variety of seats there are plenty of viewing points at this ground.  Most people seem to favour the top side by the clubhouse and it certainly offers protection later on as the wind literally howls across this lofty position.

SKELMANTHORPE KEEPER LUKE WEBSTER TAKES THE CATCH

As ever there is a true Yorkshire feel to this ground with a white washed wall denying a selection of cows access to the ground as well as acting as a sight screen extension for the facing batsman..  Having nearly proceeded with a few pictures it was during the opening overs that I discovered the replacement batteries were struggling so thankfully off to the Coop for some more indeed there would be one more visit at the tea interval for eats.

ABBAS AHMED BOWLS DARREN ROBINSON

Barkisland had been put into bat and to be fair were doing pretty well when their second wicket fell at 80 in the 19th over.  However they soon fell away to 89 for 5 and as the wickets fell away they finally succumbed to 164 all out losing their last 2 wickets without adding a run and leaving home bowler Aizaz Khan on a hat trick next time out.

JAKE FINCH LOSES A BAIL TO AHMED

The saving grace for the visitors was a measured 51 not out from Ben Westbrook who made the total something to defend.  For Skelmanthorpe Khan finished with 3 for 21 and Abbas Ahmed 4 for 60.

SETH ODDY IS OUT LBW TO AHMED BARKISLAND 124 FOR 7

Tea interval allowed the store visit and a perch on one of the Lidgett Lane seats to enjoy eats and the surroundings as the wind got up in strength its was time for the home side to start their reply.  During their innings it was good to meet up again with Josh Ingham's grandma who had sold me some raffle tickets in the first innings and was now collecting admission money which came with a folded 4 page programme for £1.50 this was the first ground I had been asked for this but had previously been made aware a lot of clubs do this in Yorkshire and indeed after a programme at Hoylandswaine last week it was good to see most people supporting the club by contributing to its running.  Josh will probably be playing his last game this season because he will now be off to the base of the TV tower to play for Emley in the NCEFL.

BEN JOBSON BOWLED BY AIZAZ KHAN

Todays game was also punctuated with a couple of conversations with Alan a former player and league umpire whose partner was doing the scoring for Barkisland as aver a pleasure to meet you.
Steady progress was being made by the home side the first wicket falling at 64 for 1 and the second at 109 in the 37th over was giving a little hope to Barkisland but with wickets in hand Skelmanthorpe had to favour their chances.  The fall of the second wicket had seen the dismissal of Allan Greenwood for 63 an innings that set up what was to be victory when overseas player Liam O Dea 29 not out and Michael Kitson 46 not out saw them over the line the latter finishing with a mighty maximum taking the score to 169 for 2 in the 45th over.

ALLAN GREENWOOD 63 FOR SKELMANTHORPE

Timely finish chaps at just gone a quarter to seven it was a steady march back over the country lanes through Cumberworth into the station approach at Denby Dale through the new estate and in record time of 22 minutes there was time to spare for the rail replacement bus service which turned out to be Andrews of Tideswell a little out of their Derbyshire territory.  With connection back to train at Penistone and the next service made in Sheffield base arrival was just after 9pm.  A fairly long day out in Yorkshire today after last weeks truncated effort at Hoylandswaine but overall a good trip.  Overall I say because those pens mentioned earlier one decided to leak in my coat pocket and then when I thought the same thing couldn't happen again the second one drained some of its contents into my bag aarrgggh.