Moorlands go for third Huddersfield Premiership title in a row

Moorlands Cricket Club first-team captain Eddie Walmsley talks about the possibility of their third league title in a row, pre-season squad news and a sparkling debut for their overseas signing.

Not that it’s a given by any means but even the chance of a hat-trick of Premiership wins in the Huddersfield Premier Cricket League is notable. It was the club’s first Byrom Shield in 2023 and they repeated it in 2024 so they are the team to beat.

A look back at the history books (courtesy of the superb Huddersfield Cricket League’s website records) shows Honley won six titles in seven years (2005-2011). Latterly, Hoylandswaine lifted the Shield for five consecutive seasons (2017-22).

There is mention on Moorlands’ Facebook of #3peat but it’s first things first, according to Eddie:

“I think starting any new season, the first thing you want to do is start well and gel the new players into how we play our cricket. A club like this demands we compete on all fronts so the players are aware there is expectation to perform.”

He continued: “In the early season, you want the batters to spend some time in the middle and the bowlers to get into their rhythm as quickly as they can. We finished last season really well, winning every game after half way and I feel we deserved to be top of the pile at the end.”

“We were pushed all the way by a very good Scholes team and I expect them to strengthen and come again this year. I think a few teams have improved in the winter and we’ll have to be at our best to win it for a third time in a row.”

Moorlands will be without new signing Fahad Shabbir from the Halifax League for the first game on 26 April at home to Thongsbridge in the Premiership but the squad is otherwise at full strength.

They have signed top-order batsmen Nico Boje from Copdock & Old Ipswichian CC in (Thurlow Nunn East Anglian Premier League) and Krutik Patel from Pool in the Aire-Wharfe League.

To further strengthen the bowling unit, Moorlands welcome Wasim Qasim from Delph who Eddie tells me “has been a top bowler for a long time and caused us real problems last year when we played him.”

Otley defeat but Dias century

Moorlands (222-9) firsts came off second-best at home in their opening friendly against Aire-Wharfe champions Otley (275-6).

You shouldn’t read too much into pre-season games where it’s as much about a few miles in the legs and adjusting to cricket outdoors. That said, I guess I’d have expected Moorlands to win comfortably.

In the plus column was that despite the 53-run defeat on 12 April, Sahil Dias struck 113 off 97 balls to open his account in some style.

A first-class cricketer from Colombo in Sri Lanka, Sahil will bat in the top order and bowl leg-spin. He plays for Ragama back home and has represented his country for the Sri Lanka emerging XI.

His captain Eddie was suitably impressed:

“’Dilly’ looked brilliant against Otley and has fitted into the club/group amazingly well. He’s a great character and we hope he enjoys his time here in West Yorkshire. His innings was magnificent and we are excited to see how he goes this year for us.”

Over the Easter weekend, Moorlands 1st XI (282-8) notched a 43-run win against Pudsey Congs (239-6) of the Bradford Premier League.

Again, Sahil Dias with 90 off 64 balls showed what he’s about and captain Eddie brought the chaos (that’s his nickname) with 65 off 43. While the wickets were shared in the reply, Krutik Patel’s 2-24 combined wickets with economy.

Aside from first-team cricket, Moorlands have plenty going on. Their seconds, captained by Andrew Fortis, have warmed up with strong wins against Hunslet Nelson and Hopton Mills before league duties start away at Lascelles Hall on 26 April.

Moorlands 2nd XI will be up against champions Hoylandswaine whose club Secretary I interviewed recently. It would be fair to say that article has got a few talking. Imagine the fixture tends to carry some spice.

Meanwhile, Moorlands have just launched their new Square Leg Café and their women and girls’ section has fixtures to look forward to in April and May.

The girls U13 softball side is in the Central South Region of the West Yorkshire Women & Girls Cricket League while the women’s 1st XI is in Huddersfield Region Division 3 (Softball) this season.

The boys teams compete in either the Huddersfield Junior Cricket League or Halifax Junior Cricket league while there’s also a Sunday XI in Division 4 of the Halifax Cricket League too.

So, lots to look forward to in Mirfield Memorial Park with the first league outing for Eddie’s first-team squad at home to Thongsbridge (12.30 start) on Saturday 26 April.