Huddersfield win the Joe Lumb Cup Competition

Huddersfield won Yorkshire’s premier junior cricket competition for the first time since 1992, when they beat Barnsley at Kexborough on Sunday.

It was a one-sided final, where Huddersfield showed all their character, team spirit and versatility, but they never allowed the unbeaten Barnsley team, who have destroyed seven teams in reaching the final, to show their talent.

During the group matches Barnsley have never lost more than six wickets, and have scored a minimum of 230 runs per innings, and when Huddersfield won the toss and asked Barnsley to bat first, the big crowd questioned the wisdom of the decision.

Captain Raven Hill is nobody’s fool, and he marshalled his team in an impeccable manner, cleverly rotating seven bowlers and put the batters under constant pressure.
Sam Scott has been the main strike bowler all season and has played a major part in getting Huddersfield to the Final, but Raven Hill did not hesitate in removing him from the attack when his line wavered.
Johnny Butterfield and Nicky Sharpe took centre stage, having the star Barnsley batters in all sorts of trouble bowling a line and length, which limited the scoring, built pressure and frustrated the batters.
The introduction of the wonderful spinning trio of off spinner Greg Wadsworth and the two leg spinners Ben Raven Hill and Greg Buckley was eventually too much for Barnsley and they slowly crumbled under constant pressure.
The spinners bowled 30 overs between them and took 8 wickets, but it is fair to say the batters were softened up by Butterfield and Sharpe.

All the bowlers were supported by an excellent fielding display, with Huddersfield having fielded well all season, and in the final they took all the catches, chased down every ball and kept the batsmen under constant pressure.

The icing on the cake in this excellent Huddersfield team has been the introduction of Elland’s wicketkeeper Jo McNamara, who has immense talent behind the wickets, is a tremendous team player, and has played a major part in Huddersfield’s success.

Barnsley were eventually dismissed for a modest 157, and with the depth of Huddersfield’s batting it was always going to be several runs short of a winning score.

The batting of Tom Denton has been a major part in Huddersfield’s success this season, but the England U15 captain and spinner, Rafiq, dismissed him and Raven Hill early, and at 24 for 2, with the opening pair in the pavilion, Barnsley were aggressively confident, but the smiles were quickly removed with the introduction of Greg Buckley, who was well supported by Chris Matthewman in a stand of 86.

Buckley, the Micklehurst talented all rounder, proceeded to destroy the Barnsley attack scoring a match winning 99 not out, hitting 11 fours and 5 sixes, playing shots all around the ground and producing a flawless batting display,which saw him just miss out on a century, but he saw Huddersfield through to a comfortable and outstanding 6-wicket victory.

The group matches began back in early May, and all the Huddersfield players have played a part in the success, as they hunted as a pack, supported each other, and where they have all been concerned with team success, not individual achievement.

Ben Raven Hill can be proud of his players, Huddersfield can be proud of their team and the players can be proud of themselves.
Winning Yorkshire’s premier junior cricket competition and most coveted trophy is simply an outstanding performance.