A STUNNING double century stand between man of the match Qaiser Rashid and prolific Wasim Jaffer led Skelmanthorpe to glory in the Romida Sykes Cup final at Honley yesterday.
It was Skelmanthorpe’s second triumph in the Drakes League’s prestigious knockout in four years – and conversely, Delph’s third final defeat in as many appearances.
But although on paper the eight-wicket victory looked comprehensive, Skelmanthorpe’s heroes certainly cut in fine, their winning runs coming off the penultimate ball of the match, when Indian Test star Jaffer cracked his 13th four through the covers to start the Lidgett Lane club’s celebrations.
“This win is just so wonderful, and particularly special to me as captain,” said a delighted Sarfraz Ahmed.
“I never stopped believing we would win, because we play so much better in Cup competitions.
“And Qaiser and Wasim were just tremendous.”
Jaffer’s superbly-timed innings was just what everyone has come to expect of this most cultured of Indian batsmen, everything coming off the middle of the bat, everything on the deck and totally chanceless.
His partner was slightly more fortuitous having been bowled by Irfan Zahoor in the 20th over – only to be reprieved when it was called a no-ball!
After that, however, the only problem for Rashid was cramp, which hampered his running in the latter stages of the contest, but didn’t prevent him carving 15 fours to all parts of the ground in his splendid 118 not out.
Their innings had begun very sedately with neither Sarfraz or Jaffer able to score a single run off the first four overs, and then when the skipper was run out by a direct hit from Bilal Khiljee in the 10th over and Tim Sykes followed next over, caught behind off Khiljee, Skelmanthorpe looked in trouble at 19-2.
It took the Lidgett Laners 20 overs to reach 50, but Rashid then began to take charge and quickly brought up his own 50 off just 59 balls (seven fours) by the 27th over as the third-wicket stand began to prosper. Delph were hit hard by the loss of opening bowler Matt Norvall, however, who pulled up with a hamstring injury midway through his fifth over, leaving skipper Grant Jones to shuffle the rest of his attack around, without much success.
Arron Lilley suffered a couple of expensive overs from the scoreboard end and was soon replaced by Warren Jones, who fared no better as Skelmanthorpe reached 100 in the 29th over, Jaffer getting to his own patient half-century the following over with just four boundaries.
With the fielders pushed back, however, the two batsmen moved along steadily with plenty of well-run ones and two and they reached the last 20 overs needing a further 127 to win.
Occasional spinner Faisal Butt went on for three overs, but was soon hit out of the attack and it was left to occasional bowler Zahoor to do the bulk of the bowling from the village end.
Khiljee returned to bowl out his 15-over allocation, but by now both batsmen were well set and never looked in any trouble as they pushed on to 168 with 10 overs remaining.
Rashid was the first to his ton in the 41st over, his innings taking just 114 balls and including 14 fours as Jaffer was content to play a more secondary role on this occasion.
But the Indian master, who had previously scored a century in each of two finals with Scholes only to finish on the losing side, quickly caught his partner up and his delight was obvious when another exquisite four through the covers brought up his own ton in the 47th over.
A couple of tight overs from Lilley, who had returned from the village end, sent the match into a final over with Skelmanthorpe needing five to win, and when his first four deliveries yielded just two singles, it looked like being a tense finish.
But Jaffer was leaving nothing to chance and calmly stroked the fifth ball to the boundary to provoke a pitch invasion from the team’s delighted supporters in a crowd of 1,300.
Delph would have been quietly pleased earlier in the day after being put in to bat and finishing with a competitive 239-6 on a track that was offering the bowlers a little bit of assistance.
Bruce Cruse and Zahoor both fell to lbw decisions but Khiljee batted sensibly as he and Butt put on 40 for the third wicket before the latter was bowled by young spinner Josh Ingham for 25.
Arron Lilley made 19 but a mix-up in calling led to him being sent back by Khiljee only to be beaten by Sarfraz’s direct hit and John Morris fell without scoring to Rashid.
That brought in Norvall, who, along with Khiljee put on 104 for the sixth wicket, and it was the Zimbabwean-born all-rounder who really pushed the score along, although he did have a couple of lives on the way to a fine 48 not out.
Khiljee finally went for 89 in the final over, and to many it had looked like a match-winning performance – until Rashid and Jaffer stamped their mark on an excellent final.
