Overnight and early morning rain meant a delayed start of an hour and thus a 40 overs per side match. Shepley won the toss and didn’t hesitate to put Delph in to bat on a green looking wicket. Nasir Jamal made instant inroads into the Delph innings, trapping Nathan Jones lbw in the first over. Xander Selby, promoted to opener, together with Alex Peters then battled through a difficult period before Selby edged to slip for 10 with the score on 22 for 2. A short rain delay ensued and on resumption Peters and Mosun Hussain gradually took the score up to 59 when Peters was bowled around his legs by Tom Chadwick for 28. Hussain then started to take control of the innings and with support from Rehan Afridi (14), Adam Hayes (10), and Louis Aspeling (9) enabled Delph to build a total that would become defendable. Hussain eventually holed out at long on for a matach winning 82 which included 4 4’s and 8 6’s, most of which sailed over the long off and long on boundaries. A late flurry off 2 sixes off the last 2 balls of the innings by Umer Yaqoob enabled Delph to close the innings on 184 for 9.
The earlier rain interruption meant the Shepley reply being reduced to 36 overs, with the target being reset to 171. After a steady start to the innings Dan Wood was the first to leave for 9 falling to a smart slip catch by Mosun Hussain off Umer Yaqoob and Max Joice feathered a catch to keeper Rehan Afridi 2 balls later to leave Shepley on 37 for 2. Skipper Greg Wood and opener Tom Chadwick then joined forces and with some aggressive batting took the total to 59 when Chadwick edged again to Hussain in the slips for 34 (5 4’s and a 6). With some smart catching, notably a diving one from Nathan Jones at long off, to dismiss Shabhan Raheem, Delph whittled away at the innings at regular intervals resulting in Shepley being dismissed for 118.
Umer Yaqoob and Muhammad Shakir did most off the damage taking 3 for 33 and 4 for 33 respectively of their maximum allotted 11 overs. The win gave Delph a satisfying holiday week-end double over 2 very good sides.
