Cricket: Elland legend rewarded with top League honour

Dec 27 2010 by David Lockwood, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

ONE of Huddersfield’s most popular cricketers, along with a relative newcomer to the Drakes League, has been awarded the prestigious Lady Sykes Candlesticks.

James Thornton – who has signalled his intention to retire after a star-studded 30-year career with Elland – and Emley Clarence all-rounder Ken Taylor will receive their accolades at the Drakes League’s annual dinner and prize presentation at the Cedar Court Hotel on Friday, January 21.

Taylor has played for Emley for more than 25 years, most of which was when the club were in the Huddersfield Central League – they joined the Drakes only in 2004 – and when he was a genuine all-rounder who batted in the top five and was a very respected medium swing bowler.

He really made his mark with the bat in 1996, when he won the H Whittaker Trophy after smashing a then League record score of 215 against Shelley.

In 2000 he won the man-of-the-match award in the final of the Allsop Cup as Emley recorded a League and Cup double that year, and he was also a member of the team which went on to lift the Cup again in 2003.

After the club switched leagues, Taylor was voted his club’s Player of the Year in 2005, when he also won the First XI batting prize.

He then began to take more of a back seat on the field, playing mainly in the Seconds, only to be recalled again this season by skipper Simon Sykes as the Clarence club pushed for promotion.

“Ken can still do a very good job for us,” said Sykes.

“He bowls medium pace and swings it about quite a bit and can tie up one end, and he can certainly still crash it with the bat when he gets his eye in.

“Although he has wanted to play in the Seconds for some time, he will play anywhere he is asked and has unquestionable commitment to the club. He has also recently built a new kitchen in the clubroom as well as being the joint groundsman, and genuinely is Mr Emley.”

If Taylor is a relative newcomer, then Thornton needs no introduction to Drakes League cricketers and their supporters.

As well as being a mainstay of Elland’s first team for many years, he has also represented the Drakes League with great honour on numerous occasions.

His career began at Hullen Edge as a nine-year-old, and he is believed to be the youngest-ever to play for Elland’s Under 13s.

By the time he was 14 he was playing senior cricket in the Seconds (while also still playing for the Under 15s) and finally he moved into the first team, while still only 16.

Apart from the odd spell out with injury, that’s where he has stayed ever since, proving to be a more-than-reliable left-arm spinner and a genuinely dangerous batsmen capable of taking the game away from anyone.

In 1991 he was voted the Most Promising Young Cricketer of the Year and took the Reg Haigh Trophy, while five years later he was in the awards again, this time winning the Jack Gledhill Trophy as the League’s top all-rounder.

He has made six Sykes Cup final appearances, his first back in 1987, and although four of those ended in defeat, he did skipper Elland to one of their two victories in 1998, when he bagged a four-wicket haul in the win over Hall Bower.

His batting almost overturned a hopeless position in the final two years previously when he made a magnificent 72 in the 30-run loss to Scholes, after all the top Hullen Edge batters had perished cheaply.

But he gained some measure of revenge on the Chapelgaters in 2002 when he played a leading role in beating Scholes by seven wickets, while he was also in charge when he led Elland to the Byrom Shield in 1999, one of two Championship-winning sides that he has been part of.

Thornton has taken great pride in playing for various League representative sides, and as one of the most liked and respected cricketers of his generation, he has carried an impeccable disciplinary record throughout his career.

More recently he has undertaken a number of coaching qualifications and is now an important member of the club’s junior set-up, helping turn around the fortunes of the Under 11s, who failed to win a game in the Halifax Junior League the previous season, but won it this year!

Always a willing worker for the club, he has been on the cricket committee, the general committee and has also served as cricket chairman and will be another very worthy recipient of the highest League award for current players.