This weekend offers up another mouthwatering Yorkshire club cricket final after Shepley’s triumph in the Heavy Woollen Cup Final over Gomersal.
Shepley are gunning for two pieces of silverware in two weeks, this time against Skelmanthorpe in the 92nd Sykes Cup final. For those unaware, The Sykes Cup is the most famous knockout competition in Huddersfield cricket. Sir Charles Sykes (1868-1950), politician and wool merchant, donated the Sykes Cup to the Huddersfield & District League in 1920.
Skelmanthorpe are defending the Cup won in 2010 when they beat Delph & Dobcross and both sides have enjoyed their Cup run against the backdrop of inconsistency in the League. Earlier this season when the two faced each other, Shepley won at Marsh Lane by 123 runs, despite having been 93-6 batting first. Huw Ellis (50*), Craig Glover (35) and Danny Glover (28*) rescued the innings, before Craig did the business with the ball to finish with 15-6-22-5.
RASHID V RASHID
Another fascinating prospect is that of the Rashid brothers facing each other. Amar, Shepley’s leg-spinner and number five batsman, will be hoping to get the better of Skelmanthorpe’s dangerous middle-order batsman Haroon, while third brother Adil is playing for Yorkshire at the Rose Bowl.
CricketYorkshire.com had a quick chat with Amar Rashid about the Final and his 2011 season playing for the Unicorns in the CB40. It turns out that before this Sykes Cup Final, there was the prelude of the League clash where Amar’s Shepley came out on top as he contributed 23 with the bat and 2-17 with his leg-spin. Haroon managed only 4 that day with the bat but family loyalty aside, Amar reckons he’s “one of the best batters in the League,” though he has yet to have the pleasure of bowling at his brother in a game.
It’s not difficult when you see ‘bowled A Rashid’ on a scorecard to think of Amar’s brother Adil who has is often talked about in terms of an England return but whose 2011 season hasn’t perhaps fired the imagination but nor does it mirror Yorkshire’s struggles. In one-day cricket, his wicket taking for CB40 and T20 matches stands as a clear marker to that potential.
As it happens, Amar and Adil worked a lot together at their leg spin as youngsters, coached by their dad. While Adil’s career as a legspinner took off via Yorkshire 2’s, Yorkshire and England, Amar gave it up to concentrate on his batting, only returning to the craft in the last three years.
While Amar has been turning out for Shepley, he’s also been selected for the ECB Unicorns. With a cricketing CV that includes Leeds/Bradford UCCE and 2nd XI spells with Worcestershire & Leicestershire, the 25-year old from Bradford is hoping his performances with the Unicorns can net him a county contract.
UNICORNS SPRINGBOARD
This springboard to greater things has yet quite turned out as hoped given the Unicorns have struggled in Group C alongside Nottinghamshire, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Essex, Somerset and Lancashire. It started promisingly with winning positions in the first three games but has been tough as Amar acknowledges: “We should have won the first three but after that, we’ve not had enough runs to bowl at.”
As for his own batting, he tends to go in down the order with licence to score quick runs in the 4-5 overs left. He did, however, claim his first List-A wicket by trapping Lancashire skipper Stephen Moore in a narrow 20-run defeat at Old Trafford.
For Amar, it’s part of an ongoing fight to get recognition in the ultra-competitive battle for county contracts. Having already tasted 2nd XI action with two counties, he is hopeful of securing some county exposure with Gloucestershire though there are trials before possible 2nd XI matches.
With Yorkshire not sharing the same group as the Unicorns and both squads not progressing, Amar hasn’t faced Adil in 2011 but if you look through Cricket Archive, one match leaps out where all three Rashid brothers came up against each other – as Yorkshire 2nd XI faced Worcestershire 2nd XI at Stamford Bridge in 2007. Over the three days, Amar suffered a pair with the bat while Haroon (also turning out for Worcestershire) hit 64 and Adil got a few overs for Yorkshire and bagged a wicket in each innings.
Fast forward four years and the brothers are all still well known in Yorkshire cricketing circles and the 2011 Sykes Cup Final offers a chance to see how Amar and Haroon fare against each other.
