Woodhouse Grange CC beat Hoylandswaine to book place in Heavy Woollen Cup semi-finals
After two close-run cup defeats on successive Sundays, the pendulum swung for Woodhouse Grange last Sunday with a marvellous two-wicket triumph at Hoylandswaine to march them into the prestigious Heavy Woollen Cup semi-final.
Woodhouse, the first club outside the West Riding to play in the competition, faced a tough test away to perennial Huddersfield Premier League champions, Hoylandswaine, who invariably field a clutch of first-class players, writes Phil Gilbank.
Put in, Hoylandswaine were in a hurry as they blasted their way to 100-4 in just 16 overs.
But they were reeled in by Grange seamers, Tom Neal (3-28) and Sam Britton (2-16), and off-spinners, Jonny Shepherdson (2-17) and James Finch (3-35), so that the home side were bowled out for 193 in the 35th over.
Against an attack containing two County Championship and a Pakistan U19 bowlers, it was a challenging chase for Woodhouse.
Harry Gamble (41) set the foundation in a 79-run second-wicket partnership with Chris Bilton (38).
There were stutters in mid-innings until skipper Finch (31 not out) steadied the ship at No 7 and nudged his side towards their target, before No 9 Chris Suddaby hit a winning boundary for 195-8.
All four Woodhouse games were washed out on Saturday, though the 2nds got a start at Londesborough Park, where they were on the rack at 68-5 when the rain arrived.
The sides went onto the field with Londesborough sitting pretty in third place in the Yorkshire North Championship East, and reigning champions Woodhouse hot on their heels in fifth.
But Woodhouse were struggling as left-armer Joe Shingles, who had half a season at the Grange a few years back before returning to his first club, haunted his former team-mates by taking four of the five wickets to fall when the heavens opened.