Pudsey St Lawrence C.C.

Batting first Saint Lawrence were quickly on the back foot after Harry Cullingford fell for one in the second over. Sam McEvoy joined Jack Gaunt at the crease and the 87 run partnership that followed dominated the innings. Jack Gaunt has scored consistently this season and his 36 was yet another valuable contribution. Jack posted his highest score of the season overtaking the 34 he had made against Idle on Monday night and remains the sides most reliable run scorer having hit 176 runs in his eight innings this term. Ben Baldwin (1) and Josn Wilson (3) fell cheaply looking for late runs and Jack Allman finished unbeaten on 2. But the batting honours today belonged to Sam McEvoy who reached his 50 off the last ball of the innings which took Saint Lawrence to a total of exactly 100 off twenty overs.

With only 100 on the board it was clear that Saint Lawrence's bowlers would have to bowl tightly to contain a useful looking Woodlands line up who only needed five an over to keep their title challenge alive. The Woodlands openers Joe Woodhouse and Matthew Smith found runs hard to come by off the miserly Josh Wilson and Harry Cullingford. But it was left to inspirational skipper Sam McEvoy to get the breakthrough
and keep Saint Lawrence in the game. Smith's mis-timed drive was pouched by Josh Wilson and Woodhouse was neatly taken behind the stumps by Ben Baldwin to give McEvoy a second wicket and peg Woodlands back to 55-2. However, Mo Wadee took a liking to Connor Tiffany's bowling blasting two sixes and a four from Connor's second over. Defending only 100 proved beyond the best efforts of Saint Lawrence's remaining bowlers and Woodlands crossed the line with five balls to spare.

Sam McEvoy added 2-17 to his first innings half century to cap off a highly impressive personal performance. Sam has established himself as the sides leading wicket taker, his 12 for the U15s this season coming at less than 7 a piece. A shortage of runs though again cost Saint Lawrence dear as it had done at Buttershaw earlier in the season. Woodlands title tilt remains on track with their only defeat this term coming against Undercliffe. Following the crushing defeat of Idle on Monday night Saint Lawrence's best chance of silverware this season will now be in the Cup.

That the match was playable was due in no small part to the selfless efforts of groundsman Bernie Scott who had worked through the night to ensure the pitch was playable. Bernie had even forsaken his usual Saturday night assault on the Club's Carling stocks to mop the outfield with a bar towel. Bernie's greatest challenge during the early hours had been to move on a herd of 1.4 million African wildebeest and water buffalo who had diverted their annual migration to Masai Mara in order to take in the sodden fields of the Bradford League. The massive herd had settled onto the outfield at Tofts Road some time after the Second XIs match had been abandoned on Saturday afternoon. Bernie decided the best tactic to disperse the herd was to shout at it loudly. Yelling "Sod off back to the Serengeti" seemed to do the trick as the massive herd moved off towards Keighley. It is a great shame that Bernie's tremendous efforts were not rewarded with a victory today.


U15s - Aggregates after the Woodlands game:

Batting (50+ runs)

Jack Gaunt - 176
Sam McEvoy - 127
Harry Cullingford - 119
Josh Wilson - 72
Ben Baldwin - 62
Eddie Hollingsworth - 53
Jordan Thompson - 51

Bowling (4+ wickets)

Sam McEvoy - 12
James Pearce - 10
Josh Wilson - 4
Harry Cullingford -4
Jack Gaunt - 4
Jack Allman - 4
Archie Scott - 4
Jack Gaunt - 4

I will try to post full averages soon. Apologies for any mistakes.