Birtwhistle Cup: Rain-soaked thriller at Beckwithshaw

When Prometheus decided to use lamb’s wool to give us mere mortals a sign that Zeus was sending rain our way [and in doing so, invented clouds], I’m not sure he was trying to depress cricket players and fans alike.

However, as Wednesday turned into Thursday and Prometheus threw quite a lot of wool up into the sky, Zeus went for it…and three days later, Boycott [the god of cricket] was sitting fuming as fixture after fixture fell to downpours that looked at times like Zeus had left his power shower on.

I took a tour around a good few local grounds on Saturday, being honest, more in hope than with any realistic belief of a game going ahead.

Those that had kicked off early, were rudely interrupted, and with the amount of standing water, it was clear there was going to be a knock-on effect for Sunday’s fixtures too.

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As the cock crowed at Sunday sunrise, the broken cloud offered up both sunshine and a further spate of brief showers, casting into more doubt the smaller number of fixtures scheduled for that day.

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I had a women’s league game in mind to cover, but that was postponed due to an impromptu duck pond being constructed in the infield, so I looked through the fixture list on Play-Cricket while casting nervous glances out from the office at the spots of rain on the big window.

Any criteria I had for attending games this season, went out the window (the same one with the rain on it), and I decided that I wouldn’t go far due to the likelihood of any game being interrupted, or indeed stopped dead in its tracks, by yet more gardeners’ manna from heaven.

My eyes came to rest on two fixtures, both very local, and both with plenty of history attached.

Beckwithshaw First XI were playing at Bilton in the Waddilove Cup, and their second team were playing at The Stag Den against Bilton’s Second XI. A literal toss of the coin meant that I headed a couple of minutes up the road to the home of Beckwithshaw.

There were a few spots of rain hitting the windscreen as I pulled in through the gates of the cricket club, but to my relief, there were a number of players wandering around the ground and hopeful signs that a game might go ahead.

While sitting in the car while the dismal drizzle refused to go away, one of the umpires turned up and parked next to me. I watched as he got out of his car and walked towards the players to chat to them.

Then nervous moments as he started to walk around the ground, looking down at his feet, stopping every so often and tentatively pressing down with one foot, shaking his head and walking on a few more steps.

There was a particularly long pause at the bowler’s run-up, with plenty of foot tapping, that nearly had me popping a line dancing song on the car entertainment system for amusement – although, anyone who knows me, knows that would never ever happen.

Seemingly satisfied, the umpire indicated that the game was on. I got out of the car, pulling one of the cameras out of a camera bag, and headed inside the fence that runs around one side of the ground to a well-visited spot on the boundary rope.

As soon as I stepped on the grass, there was an unwelcome squelching sound. Looking down, water forming around the perimeter of my foot; ‘maybe that’s because of the run-off from the tarmac on the car park?’ – I thought.

As I trudged around the edge of the rope, it didn’t get any better. The water was just below the surface and with each step was being forced up, and in some cases, was bubbling around my feet.

Placing my small seat and cameras down at my favoured destination, I took a walk around the ground while the players disappeared to get ready to play.

I’m not sure if anyone remembers the National Geographic programme called Drain the Oceans – where they use CGI to remove sea water to reveal shipwrecks – but as I walked, I considered pitching a follow-up to that series, where you would remove about an inch or two off the surface of the ground to reveal a large pond.

I’m not joking, the ground was that saturated, and it is probably a scenario repeated at countless other cricket grounds around the country. The conditions were certainly going to have an impact on this game.

Beckwithshaw Second XI were playing Bilton 2XI in the second round of the Birtwhistle Cup, scheduled to start at 1:30pm, but had been put back by about half an hour due to the drizzle delaying the teams’ warm up.

The home side won the toss and put Bilton into bat, with both teams walking out in bright summer sunshine, now that the rain had finally decided to stop.

The visitors got off to a good start, only losing their first wicket in the eighth over, having scored 41 runs. Two overs and two runs later, Bilton lost their second wicket of the game as Sras Pahwa was bowled by Matthew Bates.

By drinks in the 20th over, it seemed like Beckwithshaw were on top; agreed, they had only picked up one more wicket, but they had restricted the visitors to around 100 runs, and probably more importantly, they seemingly had got a stranglehold on the run rate.

Six overs later and Bilton had only put on 25 more runs and had just lost their fourth wicket. The game looked like it was swinging in ‘Shaw’s favour.

With only seven overs remaining, Bilton had struggled to 136 for five. Runs were rare and boundaries scarcer than sightings of the Yeti in the Himalayas.

It was the last few overs of the innings that was to do the most damage. Taru Pahwa and Neil Styrin had formed a good partnership, and suddenly they were swinging their bats and timing shots beautifully. 

From struggling to get one or two runs an over, they were scoring upwards of 18 runs. By the time Oscar Watson picked up Neil’s wicket, Bilton had pushed the score to just about 200.

The final over saw two wickets, one of them being Taru’s, and the visitors had reached a total of 203. Given the slow, wet outfield, this was a formidable target for Beckwithshaw to chase.

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Notable innings from Paul Cannings (58 from 71 balls) and Neil Styrin (63 from 62 balls) had helped Bilton post the impressive score.

. . .

The sun was still shining and there was a slight, constant breeze, but I’m not sure the conditions were helping to dry out the ground in any substantial way. Any shots hit with a low trajectory into the outfield, had a lottery of outcomes as to where they would finish up.

Hits that would normally bounce once or twice, skipping across the surface to reach the boundary rope, were hitting wet ground and stopping dramatically a few feet from the rope, forcing the batsmen to run.

Conversely, a few shots would hit the relatively compact and dry ground and merrily head to the longer grass around the edge of the ground, testing the observational skills of the fielder chasing after it.

A few shots hit with a higher trajectory would invariably drop and hit the ground, forming a mini crater as at least half the ball disappeared into the mud. The conditions were certainly making things interesting for both the batsmen and the fielders.

Beckwithshaw came out to bat after tea, and it was crucial that they got off to a good start. Five overs in and they were having difficulties getting runs having only scored 16 for the loss of one wicket.

Ten overs in and things hadn’t improved much. 44 runs on the board but two wickets down, although having scored about a quarter of the total needed in about a quarter of the game, they were still struggling to kick-on and up the run rate.

Drinks were called for in the 20th over, but Bilton declined. Batsmen Callum Doak and Matthew Bates took drinks, while the visitors got into a huddle to chat, clearly wanting to build on their bowling and fielding momentum.

Suitably refreshed, Callum put his helmet back on, picked up his bat and sent shockwaves through the Bilton attack.

A devastating display of batting saw the ‘Shaw batsman despatch the ball to the four corners of the ground on a regular basis.

To be honest, he actually seemed to have a couple of preferred destinations, but with the way in which he was hitting the ball, there was little the fielders could do to stop it.

It was noticeable when Callum was batting that the Bilton fielders would invariably retreat to the boundary with a hope that one of the big hits would drop just a little short.

With about 15 overs left, it was a clear race between Doak hitting the required runs, supported by the other batsmen, and Bilton getting wickets to finish the game. The number of overs left simply wasn’t part of the equation.

The Beckwithshaw middle-order batsmen came out to support Callum, but were being dismissed with an alarming regularity. They were contributing a few runs each, but it was clear that Callum was the main threat.

By the 26th over, Doak was in the groove, and you could almost hear the visitors wince every time he stood facing the bowler. First ball of that over, he swung the bat and sent the ball for four, with his own personal total reaching 83 from 47.

‘Shaw were now at around 154 runs, just 50 short of the target, and seemingly in control of the game with Callum hitting big.

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Then disaster. Richard Vass’ ball was hit high by Doak, but as eyes followed the trajectory of the shot, a Bilton fielder stepped under it.

In one of those Hollywood bullet time movie sequences, it seemed to take an age for the ball to drop. Hands in place, fingers spread wide, the ball came down and was gratefully caught and Doak trudged dejectedly back to the pavilion.

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By now the first team had returned from their victory away at Bilton in the Waddilove Cup and were providing vocal support for the seconds.

With about fifty runs needed and two wickets remaining, the game had swung massively in Bilton’s favour.

Sam Tiffany and Archie Hamill defended well and picked off runs here and there. Any sense of despair that the game had slipped from the home team, was replaced with a newfound optimism as the number of runs needed sneaked under 40…then 30…but then with just over 20 needed, Sam was bowled by Richard Vass.

Last man to bat for Beckwithshaw was Jay Naik and he came to the wicket resolute to defend the renewed onslaught.

After a maiden over where Jay had frustrated the Bilton bowler, Archie got the scoring going again with a single, leaving Naik to face a different bowler. After another well-defended delivery, Jay connected with the ball, hitting it into the infield, and the shout came to run one.

A slight hesitation in setting off…a fatal hesitation…and Naik started to run as the ball was collected by the fielder and sent towards the bowler. The throw was unerringly accurate with the bowler collecting the ball next to the wickets and it was a simple action to take the bails off.

Beckwithshaw had been bowled out for 183…just 21 short of victory. It had been an exciting game of cricket, the result hinging on a few distinct moments in the game, and ultimately, the wicket of Callum Doak being pivotal.

Bilton had been excellent throughout, and deservedly progress to the next round of the cup.

Oh…then it rained again!

📸 MATCH PHOTOS

Want to read more?

Thanks to Mark for his report and photography from Beckwithshaw Cricket Club for a spot of evening league action. Here are his other articles on Cricket Yorkshire.

To check out 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 with days out at grounds around North Yorkshire.