The opening partnership lasting slightly longer than last weekend with Kier Litjens (0) first to fall LBW to a big in swinging delivery from Amjid Azam. This brought Danny Cole to the crease and he already looked to have learnt from last week taking plenty of early singles. Conroy (20) fell bowled by Azam and Tom Clee (0) quickly followed caught behind off Jack Earle.

Olly Hemingway came to the crease with the score poised at an ominous 33-3. He and Cole built a solid partnership of 87 before Cole (51) fell to the slow bowling of Murgatroyd. Stocks (8) and Saghir (9) were both bowled by the excellent Ahmed Taufeeq.

James Fearnley came to the crease at 145-6 with the team still needing to score 180 for full batting points. He was under strict orders from captain Conroy not to play and of his innovative shots and get the team to the vital 3 batting bonus points. Once the team score was past 180 he was out for 20 trying to boost the total.

Ian Mallard (20*) added some late boundaries to push the final total to 230-7 with Hemingway finishing 93 not out with twelve 4s and two 6s.

In reply opening batsman Steve Senior proved why he is one of the league’s premier openers smashing his way to 136 not out from only 118 balls and guiding Mytholmroyd to victory in only 35 overs.

He was helped by some poor fielding from the Hedgetop side that dropped numerous catches and had plenty of misfields. Two shining lights in the field were Harry Talbot and James Fearnley who shared half a fielding point each.

After the game I caught up with 1st team skipper Conroy who said “It was a difficult defeat to take after we worked so hard in the first innings to post what we thought was a competitive score. We have a lot of character in this team and we will keep on improving throughout the season”.

In contrast the 2nd team picked up their full 12 points. Batting first Dan Klemm and Nev Scott got them off to a flyer with an opening stand of 66 before Scott fell for 33. Klemm continued and put on an excellent 118 run partnership with captain Daniel Phipps (33).

Klemm fell for as he would describe it a ‘CLASS’ 113 which included 21 boundaries and three 6s Including a six over square leg the first ball he faced.

With the score 184-2 Parkinson and Holt both added 26 and on debut George Ashton was out for a duck. Hedgetop finished their innings 286-7.

In reply Clayton could only manage 156 all out with 2 wickets each for Stocks, Ashton, Litjens, Scott and Cole. Will Gardside top scoring for the visitors with 40 not out.

#UptheHedgetop