29th April 2023

Chaos here,

The 2023 Premier league finally got underway as we travelled to a tough venue, league powerhouses Honley. A fixture where we have had contrasting results in previous years. I’ve been part of great run chases with the likes of overseas legend, Nathan Rabnott, and also taken some hidings at the hands of Timmy Taylor, Si Kelly et al. We travelled at full strength with league debuts for Marcus Walmsley (M1), overseas Amogh Bhatkal (Mogs), Chavez Younes (Chezzy), and Jonathan Rudge (Rudgey).

I won the first battle of day and chose to give our fresh order the first crack of the whip in batting first on what looked like a used wicket. We could tell from early on that the pitch looked difficult to bat on, most of them keeping low and sticking in the wicket which eradicated our free flowing strokes. Shoki managed to get a few big shots away but was caught when he hit a long hop that should have landed halfway into the football field. M1 followed shortly after, hitting a well timed cover drive straight to cover which appeared to stick in the wicket. Mogs then entered the fray and hit his first ball for 4 after rocking onto the back foot and punishing a back of a length delivery through mid wicket. Unluckily for us and Mogs, he then got the ball of the day from Honley’s overseas and we were 50/3.

We didn’t fair much better either side of the rain break where we lost 2 hours of play and 3 wickets for just 40 runs. At 90/6 Chezzy came in to join the innings mainstay JR who was enjoying yet another day at Honley, a ground where he has had success. At 114/7 the game changed with the introduction of Moorlands new man Rudgey. I was thinking at this point if we could manage to get ourselves up to 140/150 we would have a chance of defending it on a tough wicket. However, in the last 8 overs of the innings, JR and Rudgey put on 80 runs. Rudgey timing the ball and scoring freely with shots not becoming of a number 9. JR had the shovel out and was finding the boundary with ease with his unorthodox style. This period effectively took the game away from Honley, you could feel the momentum of the game shift massively in our favour and we were on the front foot.

The second innings was all about Jonathan Rudge who showed his class and the reason we signed him by blowing Honley away. Honely’s batting order is well known around the league as one of the best, filled with experienced 1,000 runs a season men. Rudgey decimated it with a scintillating spell of left arm bowling. On his victim list were all the big names, Si Kelly, Lewis Evans (overseas), Eddie Wilson, Timmy Taylor, Charlie Jakeman, and captain Danny Howard. It was a pleasure to watch from cover seeing a Moorlands man clean bowl such highly rated players and cement us in the driving seat. The other wickets taken were Mogs and Nads who took 1 each.

Eventually the umpires took us off for bad light at 19:45 with Honley 100/8. Notoriously one of the most difficult places to go in the Drakes, we were delighted with the 6 points and to get the league season up and running. Special mention to JR for his mesmeric 77* (100) on a tough wicket where nobody else expect Rudgey, looked anywhere near comfortable. Man of the Match was given to Rudgey for his 29 (19) in the first innings swinging the momentum of the game in our favour. Followed by his 10 overs 6/18 which guaranteed our first 6 points of the season.

We were joined in the dressing room by the second team lads who joined us having tucked up Clayton West earlier in the day. Together we celebrated Mogs’ birthday with a cake from Sirj and Nads, and a few team songs. All round a great day for the club and we look forward to Meltham where we look to defend our back-to-back Sykes cup wins.

Til next time,

It’s been Chaos