Match Report by Stephen Naylor in Batley

Batley. Home to Fox’s Biscuits and one of Mrs Naylor’s favourite outlet shops. And on Tuesday night home to 11 young Villagers who travelled to take on the town’s young cricketers in the first round proper of the Bradford Junior League U13 Cup.

I say home a lot because when we arrived, it almost felt like a home fixture. All three lanes of their artificial nets were soon occupied by Lightcliffe juniors. Mr Webb took charge of putting out the boundary. Mr Tait brought some order to the slight air of chaos.

Sadly for your author and scorer, the chaos extended to being paired with a home scorer who not only wasn’t sure how to score but also wasn’t sure which Batley boy was which. Which, when you’re scoring, goes down in the ‘less than ideal’ column.

It made for a night when stress levels were high for those on the boundary rope (literally, the scorers table couldn’t have been any closer to the pitch) but slightly less stressful for those U13s who took to the field.

Captain Brodie won the toss and chose to get some runs on the board, which brought him and George to the crease. Where they stayed for some time. We’re so used to seeing Brodie come in, reach the retired not out score and then head back for a well deserved pint (of squash, obviously) that when it takes him 44 balls to reach the 30 benchmark everyone doesn’t really know what to do. But though the pace felt slow, the scoreboard kept ticking up – definitely faster than it felt.

George was unlucky not to retire not out as he made 28, Yusuf then added 20 from 17, Nico’s 7 balls added 10 and then Ollie Rose strode to the crease with one ball to go. One ball, one shot, one boundary – a 400 strike rate. Simple this game, isn’t it.

123/2 was the score after the 20. The consensus of those watching on was the score was perhaps a bit light. Which shows how much we know.

Batley’s openers made 13 from their first two overs. Lightcliffe had made 5. It felt ominous. It wasn’t.

The bowling and fielding in that opening 12 balls was light years away from what followed – Taity making very clear he wanted improvements. And improvements he got as wickets started to fall, balls started to be stopped, chances were taken and the flow of runs dried up.

Wickets for Brodie, Charlie, Ollie Wood, Ollie Rose and Freddie. The nearest of misses from the ever reliable speed of Bosh and spin of Dom. Speedy reactions across the board to claim three run outs and fire in the ball to stop singles becoming doubles.

It went to the last over but the final wicket fell from a run out with three balls to spare – a really strong 42-run victory which takes Lightcliffe into the next round of the Cup.

A procession of cars left Batley (after Mr Horne had, once again, done the home team’s job and cleared the boundary flags…) and made the scenic journey through Heckmondwike and Liversedge back home just in time for a biscuit (Fox’s, obviously) and cuppa before bed. And to arrange the logistics for another day of cricket to come.