The 1XI secured promotion to the Halifax Cricket League Premier division after a 6 year hiatus. Victory at home to Low Moor Holy Trinity Cricket Club in their final game of the season completed consecutive promotions following last season’s 2nd Division Title.
With 2 points required to guarantee promotion, Skipper Aiden Green won the final toss of the season and elected to bowl first with rain forecast throughout the day. The visitors made a fast start with the bat before Harvey Potts made the breakthrough finding the outside edge making the score 45-1. Sowerby then took 3 quick wickets as Jack Leonard found the middle stump before Ben Watkins turned one square to surprise the Low Moor batter who had shouldered arms. Leonard then got his 2nd wicket of the match and 62nd league wicket of the season to leave the visitors 69-4 and 1 point secured for St Peter’s. A strong middle order recovery from Low Moor pushed the score onto 113 before Watkins struck again. As the visitors pushed their score on towards 150, it was the introduction of Jack Rice that made an instant impact as veteran Craig Patrick held on to a fantastic diving catch at square leg to leave St Peter’s just 1 wicket away from the 2nd point required for promotion. It was Jack Rice again, that was the man of the moment, as he found the outside edge through to Keeper Hayden Bruce which secured Sowerby’s return to the top flight, much to the delight of the players. Rice wasn’t finished there as took his 3rd and 4th wicket of the match to leave the visitors 9 down heading into the final 5 overs. Some fine hitting from Low Moor’s No.7 took him past 50 just before the rain came and cut the Low Moor innings short in the 42nd over at 188-9
There was persistent rain through the incredibly posh tea break. However the sun came out just in time for everyone to polish off their Salmon and cream cheese sandwiches and set to work mopping up the square. Thankfully the weather improved and drying works were complete, allowing St Peter’s to pursue a revised total of 179 in 39 overs.
Openers Ryan Brook and Ben Watkins both scored some earlier boundaries before Watkins was given LBW. But Brook and Hayden Bruce (27) pushed the score on at a rate of almost a run a ball before Bruce nicked one with St Peter’s now 62-2. Harry Clarke scored a quick fire 14 before he was stumped. Brook continued to look in fine form as he was joined by Captain Aiden Green as Sowerby pushed passed 100 and Ryan Brook passed 50. However, Green was caught at Cow Corner for 17, and this led to a flurry of wickets. ndBrook was dismissed for 55 and Ethan Grogan fell in quick succession as the score slipped from 121-3 to 130-6 with 50 runs required from the final 10 overs. Then came the counter attack from Alex Healey (35*) and Jack Leonard (21*) with some fine hitting of their own to score at 10 runs an over and see the team over the line with 5 overs to spare and to finish the season with a victory and securing 2nd place in the league and promotion to the Premier Division.
The 2nd XI travelled down the valley to the picturesque Bridgeholme looking to stay in their own race for promotion. Also electing to field first, opening bowlers Sultan Mahmood and Billy Watson were in fine form as Sultan struck twice early to leave Bridgeholme 9-2. It was then Watson’s turn to strike twice in quick succession with the score now 32-4. Seemingly taking it in turns, Sultan found the stumps twice again to reduce the score to 63-6. A strong batting partnership then took the score on past 110 before Watson was back in the wickets as he took 3 quick wickets to complete his 5fer and record figures of 14-6-36-5. With the score at 124-9 after 36 overs, the rain returned and unfortunately when it finally stopped, the square was unable to be mopped up in time to complete the fixture. St Peter’s took 5 points which leaves promotion chances extremely slim heading into the final weekend of the season.
The 2nd XI finish off their season next Saturday with a home match against Low Moor, followed by the End of Season Party!