Saturday 21st September saw the final of the Yorkshire Premier Leagues Trophy between Sheriff Hutton Bridge, champions of the Yorkshire League North, and Woodlands, champions of the Bradford League. The final was played at Headingley and an evenly balanced contest was anticipated, especially as Yorkshire had stipulated that SHB's star man, Matthew Fisher, could not play because of an unimportant county match starting on Monday.
The Bridge did have two other Yorkshire county players in the ranks, Ed Barnes, the all rounder recently awarded his second team cap, and Karl Carver, the slow left arm bowler whose services have recently been dispensed with. The main man for Woodlands was their overseas professional Brad Schmulian, born in South Africa but who made a double century on his first class debut while living in New Zealand. He scored a century in last week's semi final win over Doncaster.
The hot sunny weather, which lasted throughout the day, made it feel more like flaming June than late September and a reasonable crowd attended. I can understand that it is a special occasion for the players and supporters to attend a Test ground for the game, but there is a lack of atmosphere with so many empty seats. However it proved to be a memorable game with a last ball finish to end proceedings.
Sheriff Hutton Bridge batted first and after the early loss of opener Foxton, put on a century partnership between skipper Adam Fisher and Ed Barnes to produce a score of 123-2 after 30 overs.
They somehow failed to accelerate and Fisher became bogged down in the sixties and was finally out for 75. The tight spin bowling of Chris Brice, who took three wickets, and Kez Ahmed kept things under control. Eventually Karl Carver, coming in at number six did provide some much needed increase to the scoring rate with a rapid 38 not out, but the general feeling was that a score of 212-6 in the fifty overs was somewhat below par.
However opening bowlers Barnes and Hemstock gave the Bridge an immediate advantage by dismissing the first three batsmen, Frankland, Jackson and Garner with the total on only 18. Dave Hemstock, a left arm seam bowler, only opened the bowling due to Matthew Fisher's absence but soon proved his worth. The fourth wicket then did not fall until the Woodlands total had reached 60. but this was probably the decisive moment of the match as Carver had Schmulian lbw for just 16.
Then it was the turn of Liam Collins to turn the game back towards Woodlands. He took chances but rode his luck to finish as the game's top scorer with 85 runs off 102 balls, which included nine fours and one six. Wickets continued to fall at the other end and Collins was finally dismissed by a fine catch by Ed Barnes at third man, running backwards to hold it and Woodlands were 194-8. They then needed just nineteen runs from seventeen balls with Eliot Richardson and Kez Ahmed at the wicket.
They edged their way closer and closer until the last over of the game which was bowled by Hemstock, rather than the more experienced Carver. It came down to the very last ball of the game when three runs were required for victory. Ahmed connected well and the ball at first seemed on it's way to the boundary but a fine running catch by Tom Hudson ended the game with Woodlands on 210-9. Sheriff Hutton Bridge winners by two runs! A splendid game of cricket with credit to both sides.
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