The team play on - see update below (21 June)

Tuesday, June 7, 2005

In the early hours of Friday morning June 3rd, vandals broke into the clubhouse at Hebden Bridge Cricket Club at Salem Fields and emptied it of practically all the club's assets, including tools, cricket kit and lawn mowers, all of which were used to create a significant fire in the middle of the cricket square.

Already reeling from the folding of the Halifax Cricket Association, from which they relied on to generate revenue from match fees, the club now find themselves without equipment not only to maintain their ground, but also to continue as a playing outfit. For example, around a dozen bats and three grass mowers were burnt in the fire.

The vandals also attempted to gain entry to the nearby Archery club's premises. This is the third time in 3 years that the club has been victims of vandalism and there is little prospect of the damage being covered for insurance purposes. It is estimated that the cost of the damage could be up to £1000.

The club is to hold an emergency meeting in the coming week to discuss how to continue functioning as an organisation (provisionally 7.45pm this Wed 8 June at the ground). In the meantime, it sends out an appeal to anyone who might be able to help in terms of equipment (in particular grass mowers), kit, or cash donations. Please ring Hywel Morgan on 886750 or Phil Howitt on 844720

Crickstock 2004

Live commentary over the web,
courtesy of 3-C

The club held an emergency general meeting at the Salem Community Centre on Monday 20th June at which it was decided to continue as an organisation.

This was down not only to the general feeling of positiveness within the club, despite recent events, but also down to several very generous offers of donations of cash and equipment generated through the article in the Hebden Bridge Times and the HebWeb.

The goodwill which has been extended to the club over the past two weeks should not be underestimated. The club can now continue to function as an outfit playing friendlies for the rest of the season (and any organisations/pubs wishing to challenge the club are most welcome!) but there is a genuine desire to look at more sustainable long term plans.

Play resumed

Hebden Bridge Cricket Club played their first home match since their ground was vandalised, winning a resounding victory in a low-scoring match at Salem Fields. The visitors were St Mary's College from Blackburn, returning for their second friendly of the season.

Hywel Morgan, captaining Hebden, won the toss on a green wicket and opted to bat. Opening bowlers Hassan and Zeeshan both bowled testing opening spells, with Hassan finally making the breakthrough in the 5th over, when he took a sharp caught and bowled chance to dismiss Jeff Anderson for 3. Two balls later he clean bowled danger man Dom Bailey for a duck to leave Hebden at 10-2. Hywel Morgan was then joined by Mark Whittaker who did much to rebuild the innings, before both were out to close call leg before decisions, Whittaker for an excellent 25, including 5 boundaries. Ken Hall continued his decent form, crashing 3 fours in 18, whilst John Appleby in his first match of the season, also hit a six in his 12. Accurate bowling from the students meant that Hebden could only muster 31 runs in their last 15 overs, closing at 85-8 in their 35 overs. For St Mary's College, Hassan took 2-23, Wasim 2-8, Wall 1-25 and guest captain Phil Howitt 1-11.

A very inexperienced St Mary's batting line up started in the best possible fashion with Matt Wall hitting sixes off both Dom Bailey and Lawrence Massey. However, with Wall caught and bowled off a leading edge by Bailey in the 5th over for 19, the students subsided spectacularly. Bailey's pace and bounce unsettled a series of batsmen, whilst Massey did little more than invite the visitors to play rash shots against some highly accurate bowling. Abdul Kothia's massive six hit over the river proved to be short lived relief for the students as Mark Whittaker took three excellent catches to back up his bowlers. Bailey finished with 4-13 and Massey 4-15 as the college side were dismissed for only 35, leaving Hebden Bridge winners by 49 runs.

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