Delph successfully made it through to the 2nd round in their defence of the Sykes Cup they won last season in the final against Shepley at Honley. Having won the toss and deciding to bat they made a steady start before both openers fell to attempted pull shots. Mosun Hussain was caught behind for 26 and Nathan Jones caught and bowled for 16. And when Rehan Afridi edged one to keeper Will Mott for a 3 ball duck to leave Delph on 50 for 3, visitors Denby sensed a first round shock on the cards. However that left Alex Peters and Adam Hayes who firstly steadied the ship and then began to play more expansively once a solid base had been established. Together they put a partnership of 134 before Peters was lbw for a fine 56 with 8 4’s and 2 6's. Hayes carried on to see the innings out scoring his maiden ton for Delph in the final over of the innings, finishing on exactly 100 not out off 109 balls (14 4’s and 3 6’s). Hayes received good support from Luke Hargreaves (25) and Umer Yaqoob (21) to enable Delph to record a solid total of 270 for 7 at the completion of the innings. Tom Sanders was the main bowling threat with 3 for 50
Denby started their response solidly with openers Mark Askham and Matthew Smith putting on 26 for the 1st wicket but when Yaqoob made the breakthrough bowling Smith 3 wickets fell on the same score, including Aizaz Khan who was deceived by a fine inswinging ball from Muhammad Shakir for a duck. Wickets then fell at regular intervals and at no time did the Delph total come under threat. Harjot Johal top scored with 36, but the innings limped along to 112 at its close. Yaqoob took 4 for 21 and Shakir 3 for 27 to put Delph in the hat for the 2nd round draw.