It was a rather wet start to Sunday morning (4th July) following the previous days rain and a thunder storm during the evening saw the much anticipated game between the top 2 teams in the league in doubt but the Selby wicket and outfield dried up quickly and the game was able to be played in front of a great crowd down at Sandhill Lane.

It looked a crucial toss to win and Fishlake won the first battle to put Selby in on a green surface which could make batting tricky but the opening pair of Jack Huddlestone and Kayden Lane watched the ball carefully and started to manoeuvre the ball around and getting off to a solid start. Following a slightly contentious claim of the ball not going over the boundary from a Fishlake fielder seemed to fire up Huddlestone who went on the attack hitting a six and four against the spin bowler. He continued his onslaught in the following over and twice more found the boundary with some great shots reaching his retirement score off just 19 balls (26 no). At the other end Lane was playing nicely and was joined by Rhys Roddick (3) who looked to continue the scoring rate but was bowled by a nice delivery. Caspar Gray (5) who was captaining for the day was next in and after a great shot for 4 saw a similarly good ball to leave Selby on 63/2 just after the half way stage but in a great position to post a very competitive total. It was not long before Lane (27 no) retired with a big six but to Fishlake’s credit their bowling attack improved and run scoring became a little more difficult as Harry Huddlestone and Sam Dickinson had looked to punish any loose bowling. After a couple of nice boundaries Huddlestone (13) bottom edged a fine delivery to depart before Dickinson (6) was caught close to the boundary leaving Selby on 91 for 4. Scoring had certainly became harder in the 2nd half of the innings as Joe Bugg and Jack White looked to finish the innings well and 2 super shots from Bugg (14) saw him clear the ropes for six before a collapse at the end of the innings pushing for some extra runs saw Selby post 108 for 9.

The Selby team knew they would have to bowl and particularly field well if they were to restrict Fishlake who had shown during the season they regularly posted scores of over 120. Caspar Gray opened the bowling and started off on a great line and length before the early breakthrough came as they got the captain with a superb one handed catch from Rhys Roddick diving to his right. At the other end despite some good bowling from Joe Bugg (1-17) there was a couple of boundaries that put Fishlake back on the run rate. In Bugg’s next over there was an unusual dismissal of the batsman hitting his own wicket leaving Fishlake on 11 for 2. Gray (1-5 off 3 overs) continued his fine spell with a maiden as the Selby fielding formed a tight circle to restrict the runs and build pressure onto the Fishlake batsman. This quickly told as Sam Dickinson (2-2) and Rhys Roddick (2-4) bowled great spells and any chances the batsmen offered were snapped up by some excellent catches as Harry Huddlestone, Sam Dickinson, Jack Huddlestone and Joe Bugg held on to put Selby firmly in control at 29 for 6. There was a mini revival from the Fishlake batsman as they had no other option than to attack but another catch this time from Kayden Lane saw Rowan Weightman (1-7) pick up the 7th wicket. Jack White (3-4) came into the attack and soon polished off the rest of the batsman picking up 3 wickets in his only over including 2 bowled and a stumping from Harry Huddlestone to seal a convincing 56 run win and secure the Wakefield and District League title with a game to spare (Last game is away at Featherstone on Sunday 11th). This sparked huge celebrations as the team were applauded off the field from the strong Selby support.

This season has been a hugely impressive effort from the Selby team as all members of the squad have contributed through runs, wickets, catches and outstanding fielding and they thoroughly deserve their success after lots of hard work in training throughout the year.
The Selby u13 coaching team of Dan Mcloughlin, Mike Lane and Ian Huddlestone would like to say a huge thanks to all the parents for their support throughout the season. There are many other people at the club who have helped in building towards the success been seen; Deidre Lane for scoring every week; a number of other coaches who have helped this season and previous including Daz Guy, Matt Hoyle, Mark Hope and Mark Redshaw; Mally Bowdon for preparing some great tracks; Barbara Goldsborough for keeping the kids hydrated and fed; Neil Romaniw for keeping the adults hydrated and Rich Mustill and Chelle Thirsk for doing an amazing job in keeping the club in check from a financial and organisationally perspective particularly as we work through these difficult times with Covid in the last 18 months