Golcar's Steve Whitwam seals Sykes Cup semi-final win
Jul 13 2009 by David Lockwood, Huddersfield Daily Examiner
SEALS WIN!
And that just left Whitwam to deliver the coup de grace with a lofted straight drive for four (his 14th) and the celebrations began.
At the start of the day, Skelmanthorpe captain Adam Dollive decided to bat after winning the toss, but must have wondered whether it was a wise decision as Will Hinchliffe and Ben Hilliard produced a fine spell of tight pace bowling to restrict the visitors to 31-3 after 22 overs.
Indeed, it wasn’t until Max Joice arrived at the crease that the game saw the first boundary, when he cracked his first delivery for four.
Scott Dyson helped Joice put on 68 for the fourth wicket, as between they began to push the score along, helped by Dyson’s three straight sixes off the bowling of Horner.
Hilliard held a super skied catch from Dyson (35) to break the partnership and when Joice holed out to James Sykes on the mid-wicket boundary in the 40th over with the score on 109, Skelmanthorpe were again in a spot of bother.
Richard Cocking was next to go after a mix-up with Kristian Whittaker and was run out to leave the visitors on 121-6.
However, Whittaker (28) and Adam Dollive (21no) put together some useful late runs to push them on to 183-8 which looked a pretty-much par score.
Hilliard finished with three for 34, while Whitwam had two for 41 and although Hinchliffe only had the one victim, his 13-over stint went for just 24 runs (six maidens).
“I’m delighted for Steve (Whitwam) as this will be his first Cup final for Golcar, and I’m just as pleased for the club and the players here, who have gone so long without playing in a major final,” said winning skipper Pamment.
“Now we’ve just got to hope we can carry on and get the job done in the final against Elland.”
GOLCAR v SKELMANTHORPE
SKELMANTHORPE
Ahmed c Horner b Hinchliffe5
Sykes c Rothery b Hilliard
3
Dollive (J) b Hilliard
7
Joice c Sykes b Whitwam
44
Dyson c Hilliard b Whitwam
35
Cocking run out
13
Whittaker c Rothery b France
28
Dollive (A) not out
21
Crossland b Hilliard
9
18
50 oversTotal (for 8)183
Hinchliffe 13-6-24-1, Hilliard 15-5-34-3, Whitwam 10-1-41-2, Horner 5-0-32-0, France 7-0-35-1.
GOLCAR
Whitwam not out89
Sykes c Joice b Crossland
1
Horner lbw b Crossland
0
Illingworth c Storey b Whittaker
14
Fawcett b Storey
38
Collier b Glover
24
France c Joice b Glover
0
Pamment not out
8
13
46.4 oversTotal (for 6)187
Glover 14.4-3-49-2, Crossland 10-3-47-2, Whittaker 8-1-27-1, Dyson 8-0-28-0, Storey 6-2-24-1.
