Golcar glory

Posted by Peter Davies

Sunday 9 August

The Sykes Cup final at Honley between Golcar and Elland - two heavyweights of the Huddersfield League. Far End Lane was bathed in sunshine for most of the day and estimates put the crowd figure at anything between 300 and 1,500! The playing area was ringed with spectators, with the Golcar crew by the pavilion making plenty of noise! Golcar batted first and totalled 230-odd - a good solid effort after a slow start. Elland got within 20 runs or so but if I had been a Hullen Edger I would have been disappointed by the tempo of the Elland reply. At no stage did they look like they wanted to keep up with the required rate. The Golcar bowling was good and captain Ashley Pamment seemed to have his finger on the pulse as regards tactics in the field. But still the Elland batters showed little positive endeavour...until it was too late, that is. Easy to say, but their top-order batters didn't give the impression they wanted to keep up with the rate and make it easier for the middle and lower order.

It was a perfect day for a major cup final and one that Golcar supporters will remember fondly after their champagne-and-bacon-butty breakfast. They also hired a large yellow bus to transport them from the Colne Valley to Honley. Around the ground they were very vocal and in the end they cheered their heroes on to their first ever Sykes Cup victory - an amazing stat given the history of the club. A bit like Aston Villa never having won the FA Cup! Tea was chicken and quiche salad followed by lemon cheesecake and there were outlets around the ground doing a roaring trade in burgers, sandwiches, scones and chocolate cake. Golcar's stalwarts were out in force - including Messrs Thorpe, Law and Sutherland - and for the last 45 minutes of the game my view of the action was blocked by ex-Yorkshire and Glamorgan batter Matthew Wood, Honley's new player-coach, who had a pint in his hand on the boundary near the pavilion. One visitor from afar was Bolton umpire Malcolm Kinder - on a day trip from Little Lever. He said he enjoyed the day.