Hunslet Nelson Cricket Club are the Gordon Rigg Jack Hampshire Cup winners for the first time after a four-wicket win against Scholes at a scorching Liversedge on Sunday 11 August 2024.
Captain Jack Scanlon had the honour of lifting the trophy. He said after the win:
“It is a great competition and we are delighted to win it, but it is not always easy backing up on a Sunday after a Saturday league game.
“It is a big commitment for families and the players, with moving the T20s to a Sunday, we have played nine Sundays out of ten so it’s great we have something to show for it.”
Hunslet made the perfect start when Matthew Varley struck in the first over and they went on to pick up wickets at key times during the Scholes innings, restricting them to 206 all out.
Varley was the pick of the bowlers, with figures of 5-50, which led to him picking up the Man of The Match award. Sam Thewlis and Tyler Woodhouse’ contributions were also crucial through the mid overs, conceding just 22 and 27 runs, respectively.
The fielding performance from Nelly was superb, holding onto chances and causing three run outs on what is a very high scoring ground.
In reply Nelson had a superb opening partnership of 90 thanks to the destructive hitting of former skipper Will Stiff, who made 56, and Tyler Woodhouse, who scored 25.
A valuable contribution of 26 from the skipper moved Hunslet closer to the target before he was dismissed with the score at 140-4. That brought Alastair Finn to the crease who, alongside partners Andy McIntosh, Sam Thewlis and Josh Morris saw Hunslet reach the target with 14 balls to spare. Finn finished 50 not out off 36 balls.
It was a brilliant day for the club and one that numerous people on and off the field have worked extremely hard to achieve. Chairman Anthony Ryder had this to say:
“It’s a great success for the club, we have been working hard for years slowly moving the club forward. This victory is for all the members, players and volunteers that give up their time to keep cricket going in South Leeds.”
This post was written by Alastair Finn
We encourage anyone living or working in South Leeds to use this website to tell their news. You can either use the Create an article for South Leeds Life page, or email us at: info@southleedslife.com
While you’re here, can we ask a favour?
South Leeds Life is published by a not-for-profit social enterprise. We keep our costs as low as possible but we’ve been hit by increases in the print costs for our monthly newspaper which have doubled in the last two years.
Could you help support local community news by making a one off donation, or even better taking out a supporters subscription?
Donate here, or sign up for a subscription at bit.ly/SLLsubscribe
