Beckwithshaw 2nd XI recover from 24-5 to defeat Bardsey

It’s come to that time of the season where the number of games scheduled in a week is dropping considerably. Leagues and cups are reaching their climax and others have finished, making the fixture list something of a tricky thing to navigate.

Combine that with who is playing at home, who is away, which teams have I seen play this season, which leagues have I covered…the process of working out where to visit on a Saturday has become difficult.

As I looked at the list for this last weekend, I was wanting to get to see either a team I haven’t covered before, or certainly one I haven’t covered this season at the very least.

Beckwithshaw 2nd XI were entertaining Bardsey at The Stag Den in the Airedale & Wharfedale League Division Two, and somehow, I hadn’t covered Bardsey this season! I felt a little guilty only having to travel the short distance to the ground [as it is one of three that form a triangle around where I live], but at the same time, I’ve been putting in some miles in the past month, visiting quite a few grounds around Yorkshire.

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If you’ve read any of my articles about the club before, you will know that Beckwithshaw’s ground has been hit particularly hard by the poor weather over the last 12 to 24 months, with the outfield showing the scars of a high water table and a lack of suitable drainage.

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In fact, the club started a Crowd Funder campaign in July to try and raise funds to install proper drainage and ensure that the ground is in a state to support the thriving men’s, women’s, and junior sections going forward.

Having received a pledge of £7,500 from Sport England, the club has [at the time of writing] raised a further £16,619 via Crowdfunder.co.uk to get this work done – just short of their £17,000 stretch target.

It’s wonderful to see the local community coming together to help ensure the future of the club’s facilities.

I arrived just before the first ball and took a quick walk around to take in the views. The playing surface has seemingly dried out for now, with tranches of dried mud running along one side of the boundary rope, and many parts of the outfield still sporting the signs of severe water damage.

Once the drainage has been installed, I hope that the club will be in a far better position and this sort of outfield damage will be a thing of the past.

Beckwithshaw won the toss and decided to put Bardsey 2nd XI into bat, with the visitors seemingly revelling in that decision.

Bardsey’s confident start

Bardsey may not have scored freely, but they batted with a degree of confidence and certainty, and it took until around the 13th over for Shaw to make the first breakthrough – taking the wicket of opener and captain Gary Hopton, having scored 20 from 36, and with the team on a total of 35.

Over the next ten overs, Beckwithshaw claimed two more wickets, including the other opener – Luke Neary (25 from 65) – while restricting the visitors to just 68 runs.

Then, a great partnership between George Rigg and Usman Tahir over the next ten overs guided Bardsey to 112 before Usman was bowled by Jay Naik.

With plenty of wickets still in hand, the visitors navigated their way to the 45th over, ending their innings on 160 for seven, the highlight being George Rigg who reached an unbeaten half-century (51 from 80).

Oscar Watson (two wickets for 24 runs from his nine overs) and Jay Naik (three wickets for 29 runs from his nine overs) were the pick of the Shaw attack.

Knowing this ground, 160 is probably at the lower end of a defendable total. Maybe a minimum of another ten or so would have been better…but it certainly wasn’t a given for the home team to chase down easily.

Suitably fed and watered, I headed back to the boundary rope to watch Shaw’s response. If Beckwithshaw thought that this would be an easy afternoon, they were to quickly find out to the contrary.

The first three overs were slow burners, with the home team quietly putting a few runs on here and there. Nothing flashy, nothing dangerous, just the two batsmen settling in at the crease.

Then a whirlwind hit the ground.

Jack Rigg (a young player that had been impressive with the bat – scoring 20 from 23 balls), showed he was also handy with the ball. Beckwithshaw’s captain Chris Peakman was caught by George Rigg off Jack’s bowling.

Okay, teams are going to lose a wicket in the early stages of an innings, no big deal! But then a wicket in the next over and Bardsey were celebrating once more. Two overs later…another wicket fell…then another in the following over…and…unbelievably, another in the one after that too!

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Beckwithshaw were reeling on 24 for five in the eighth over! Bowlers Keon Williams and Jack Rigg proving to be almost unplayable at this point.

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Batsmen six and seven met in the centre – Callum Doak and Jordan Swires needing to arrest the loss of wickets and try and make inroads into the near 140 runs still needed to win the game.

The ninth over saw Rigg bowling to Doak, with the batter in no mood to be the sixth man out. Some superb hitting saw the new batsman reach the boundary three times, helping to raise the score from 24 runs to 37 in six balls.

Next over and it was Jordan’s turn to hit the boundary, and the home team ended it with another ten runs added.

Over the course of the next five overs, Beckwithshaw scored heavily, pushing the score to around 100 and calming any fears that they would be bowled out cheaply. There was still a way to go, but the partnership between Jordan and Callum looked strong.

Bardsey’s attack hadn’t faltered at all and over the next five overs, they started to reimpose themselves and restricted Shaw’s run rate, but with drinks taken, the home team came out with a renewed resolve.

Suddenly, boundaries started to happen again, and with two fours Shaw had the finishing line within sight, the score going from 115 to 126, with just less than 40 needed.

By the 23rd over, Doak was hitting for fun. He flicked the ball to the outfield for two, then followed that up by dismissing the next for a huge six. The fifth ball was duly sent for a second six before a single was taken to retain the strike for the next over.

Beckwithshaw had reached 155 and were on the brink of [what at one time seemed like an unlikely] victory.

The first ball of the 24th over was whipped away for four runs and the next was similarly despatched to push the home team over the finishing line and win by five wickets.

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An unbeaten partnership of nearly 140 by Callum Doak (86 from 54 balls, including 12 fours and three sixes) and Jordan Swires (50 from 45 balls, including five fours and three sixes) had been a real pleasure to watch and helped their side add 18 points to their league total.

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Bardsey had played their part in this entertaining fixture and can take plenty of positives from it – in particular, how a number of the younger players competed with their senior counterparts. A real credit to their club.

This game may not have been a last-ball thriller…but it had all the elements of being an absorbingly competitive match between two sides that played superbly, and help make this the game we all love.

I’m going to miss the season when it is over!

MATCH PHOTOS

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Thanks to Mark for capturing the highlights of Beckwithshaw CC ‘s home game with Bardsey 2nd XI in the Airedale & Wharfedale Senior Cricket League: 2XI Division 2.

Here are all of Mark’s articles and photos on Cricket Yorkshire.

To see more of his photography, you can visit caughtlight.com or he’s @caughtlight on Twitter/X.

There’s also the Caught Light Photography Facebook page.

I also highly recommend his blog called Leica Moments that include days out at grounds around North Yorkshire.