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TRIP TO SKELMANTHORPE FOR 2012 OPENER
Shepley will travel to neighbours Skelmanthorpe for the first game of the 2012 season on Saturday 21 April. Shepley did the double over Shat last year, taking maximum points each time, as well as beating them in the Sykes Cup Final. More of the same, please! Amongst the other opening fixtures are Kirkburton v Honley and Hoylandswaine v Scholes.
The following Saturday sees the visit of Kirkburton to Marsh Lane, followed a week later by the Sykes Cup trip to Barkisland.
The full fixture list for Shepley's Huddersfield League and Sykes Cup/Paddock Shield games can be found HERE. We still await confirmation of dates for the Heavy Woollen Cup/Crowther Cup and the restructured T20 competition.
ELKIE BROOKS LIVE AT SHEPLEY
The legendary singer Elkie Brooks performs at Shepley with her band as a special event for the 2012 Shepley Spring Festival. The concert takes place on the main Festival stage on the evening of Thursday 24 May.
Tickets - which are separate from the normal Festival tickets - can be obtained through Ticket South by clicking on the link below.
CHRISTMAS DRAW RESULTS
The annual Christmas Draw has been made. Full list of winning tickets in a printable format can be found by clicking here
WEBSITE UPDATES & MORE FINAL PHOTOS
Apologies for the lack of updates this last few days - gremlins! However, new and better galleries have been added, with lots more photographs from the two finals, including some great professional action shots courtesy of The Huddersfield Examiner and Mike Baker of The Telegraph & Argus and Heavy Woollen Cup Competition.
WEBSITE CHANGES
All the reports and background material for the two finals are now brought together under the 'Cup Double' tab above.
The photo galleries have also been re-vamped. Clicking on the 'Galleries' tab opens up a new player. You can access all the galleries from the top left box and start a slideshow by clicking on the arrow button in the bottom left. If you click on any of the main images, it will open up in a new window in its full size and can be saved or printed.
OH BROTHER!
Shepley made history in winning the 92nd Sykes Cup Final, becoming the first club to win the Sykes Cup and the Heavy Woollen Cup in the same season. And just like the Heavy Woollen Cup Final three weeks earlier, this was an extraordinary game of cricket.
Shepley players don’t do cricket the easy way. Supporters get used to the twists and turns of the game, but these two finals have been remarkable. Three weeks ago Shepley posted a huge 
total against Gomersal in the Heavy Woollen Cup Final, but found themselves staring at defeat as a brutal innings from Richard Whitehurst threatened to take the match away from them. Here, Shepley seemed on the brink of a heavy defeat before turning the match on its head. As Sir Alex Ferguson once nearly said: “Cricket. Bloody Hell!”
Danny Glover won the toss on a sunny day at Hullen Edge and chose to bat against the cup holders. Elland has been a low-scoring ground in the recent past, but it looked a decent track as the large Shepley contingent settled down in front of the clubhouse. Australian pace bowler Paul Davis opened the bowling and struck an early blow, having Tom Denton caught behind off the fourth ball of the innings. Tim Rees joined SP Singh and the two began to build a partnership against some good new ball bowling from Davis and Lombard. Rees was the next man to go with the score on 31, as Lombard produced a great ball to bowl him. Singh followed 14 runs later, adjudged lbw to Crossland.
Liam Wiles, meanwhile, looked in good touch and, with a restrained Amar Rashid, began to repair the damage, taking the score up to 78-3. Disaster then struck as Wiles, his concentration possibly broken by an imminent change of bat, was run out by a smart piece of fielding as he thought about a quick single. Huw Ellis fell two balls later and Rashid, Nigel Hoyle and Ben Wells quickly followed leaving Shepley in disarray at 98-8 with twelve overs remaining.
Danny Glover, however, was still there and, with brother Craig, was determined to bat out the remaining overs and try to reach a credible total. With great discipline and skill, the pair eked out a partnership of 46 precious runs, before Danny was out to the penultimate ball of the innings for an excellent 45: a real captain’s innings. Craig was run out going for an impossible second run off the final ball, leaving Shepley all out for 145.
Would that be enough? The interval saw smart phones combing the internet for scores at Elland this season and giving a bit of hope. The average score batting first in the previous couple of months was just 131. It was still, however, a daunting task against a Skelmanthorpe side with some dangerous batsmen and a proud history in the Sykes Cup. Shepley needed something special: enter the Glover boys once again.
Danny and Craig opened with a superb spell of fast bowling that defined the game. After 7.2 overs, Skelmanthorpe were 3-3, with the top three all out for nought and only one run coming off the bat. Craig took two of those wickets and went on to destroy the Skelmanthorpe innings to record 8-26: a superb Man Of The Match return that stunned the crowd and surely matched the best performances in the long history of the competition. Danny bowled beautifully at the other end, getting the other two wickets for just twelve runs, and SP Singh bowled five tight overs in support. The bowlers were helped by some great fielding and catching – Tom ‘Munch’ Sykes taking five behind the stumps – and a collective determination not to be beaten.
Skelmanthorpe were blown away for just 53 with 24 overs to spare and Shepley made history. Since its formation in 1871, Shepley has had just two pieces of major silverware to show for one hundred and forty years of cricket: the two championships in the early nineteen-eighties. This squad of players, under the leadership of an inspirational captain, has turned Shepley into winners. Two major trophies in three weeks; two remarkable finals; a host of excellent individual performances; and a team to be proud of. Winners! Scorecard
SYKES CUP FINAL
Two weeks on from the rain that put paid to the original date, Shepley return to Elland on Sunday 21 August (12.00 noon) to face holders and local rivals Skelmanthorpe in the 92nd Sykes Cup final.
Success in this competition has been elusive for Shepley, this being only the Club's third final since first entering in 1932. In 1978 Shepley, then in Section B, lost to Broad Oak at Fartown and in 1989 to Elland, in a game that carried over into a second day, surprisingly played at Elland's Hullen Edge ground. Click on the links below to see facsimilies of The Huddersfield Examiner's previews and reports from the two finals (apologies for the poor quality in places). We also now have a facsimile of the match programme from 1989.
Skelmanthorpe, by contrast, have reached seven finals despite only joining the Huddersfield League in 1987. They won the competition in 1990 (when they also won the League) by beating Slaithwaite, in 2007 against Honley, and last year when they won an excellent final against Delph & Dobcross.
Like Shepley, Skelmanthorpe have been inconsistent in the League this year, but have made sedate progress in The Sykes Cup. They started with an eight wicket win over Conference side Thongsbridge; had a good 76 run win over Elland in the second round; beat Championship leaders Clayton West by 108 runs in the quarter final; and finally saw off Conference new boys Cawthorne in the semi final by 165 runs, despite an early batting collapse.
Shepley, on the other hand, have faced Premiership sides in every round (when did we last have an 'easy' cup draw?), beating Broad Oak (102 runs), Scholes (3 wickets), Hoylandswaine (110 runs) and Golcar (94 runs).
In the League meeting earlier this season, 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 blew away the top order to finish with 15-6-22-5.
Craig, of course, faces his former team-mates, having spent a two-year sabbatical at Lidgett Lane, winning a Sykes Cup medal in the process, before returning home this season. Another intriguing prospect is the Rashid brothers facing each other. Amar, Shepley's leg-spinner and number five batsman will be determined to get the better of Skelmanthorpe's dangerous middle-order batsman Haroon.
Hopefully the weather will behave and a big crowd will enjoy another great game of cricket and, of course, the right result!
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
We need volunteers to fill the remaining slots on the bar and tea rotas for the remainder of the season. Please click here to see where help is still needed and let Ian Watkinson or Sue Glover know when you can help.
SO TRUE...
The Yorkshire Post's insight into club cricket: Why we cannot afford to ignore the three taboo subjects of club cricket
MICHAEL MILNER
The Club has lost another of its characters with the death of Mike Milner, a long-serving supporter. Mike, known to most people as 'Cuz', lost a long fight against cancer four days after his 56th birthday. Remembered leaning against the heavy roller with a glass in hand and a witty comment or two, Cuz left a lasting mark as the co-organiser of the wonderful fireworks' displays at the Village Bonfire.
Cuz will be sadly missed by everyone associated with the Club and our thoughts are with his family and those closest to him.
FOLLOW SHEPLEY ON TWITTER
You can now catch up on all the Shepley CC news by following @ShepleyCricket on Twitter.
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Like all community-based sports clubs, Shepley Cricket Club relies on the generosity of sponsors to help fund the considerable costs involved in running the Club. Any level of help is gratefully received and those wishing to help can download the 2011 Sponsorship Pack here.
NEW JUNIOR CRICKET WEBSITE
Shepley Junior Cricket Club now has its own section of the website. This will build throughout the season with news, fixtures, rules and lots of other information about the Junior set-up. To go to the site, simply click on the "Junior Cricket" tab in the left hand column.