Scholes Cricket Club take on New Farnley of the Bradford Cricket League in the Heavy Woollen Cup semi-final on Sunday (July 3). The club reached this stage of the competition five years ago and lost to the same opposition. Scholes captain Josh Brook says hopefully redemption will be sweet.
Scholes are also in the quarter-finals of the T20 competition and currently sit second in the Huddersfield Cricket League Premiership.
Brook insists that while the Heavy Woollen Cup isn’t the club’s bread and butter it would be a nice cherry to put on top of the cake!
He said: “We played New Farnley in the semi-final five years ago and lost and now we are facing them again. It’d be great if we could get to the final. We’ve never reached that stage before.
“I think they are stronger than Hoylandswaine, at the top of our league, so we are definitely going into the game as underdogs. However, that suits us just fine.
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“The league and Sykes Cup are usually our bread and butter and obviously we are doing well in the league right now. It was disappointing to go out of the Sykes Cup so early, especially to a Championship side in Mirfield Parish.
“We always want to be challenging to win both those competitions every season. The Heavy Woollen Cup isn’t usually our first priority but we want to do well in it.”
Josh, 32, is in his second stint as captain having previously captained the side before the Covid-19 pandemic. He made his debut appearance for the club’s second team in 1999 when he was just 19 years old. Now the local lad has again been trusted to lead the team.
He said: “I was very proud to be captain before as I am now. I gave it up last time as we were just starting a family but I’m settled now and want to take the club forward in all aspects right down to the junior section.
“I think they like me being captain because I’m a local lad and I’ve played here all my life so I know all the ins and outs and history of the club.
“I’ve played for Scholes all my life as have my two brothers up until this season. Louis still plays with me in the first team but my other brother Tom has gone to play in the Bradford league for Townville. They play Honley in the other semi-final of the Heavy Woollen Cup and so we could face each other in the final.”
Brook is feeling positive about the club and says he’s looking forward to what the rest of the season might bring.
He said: “We have a big backing at Scholes which is great. The village really comes out to support us and so I think we’ll take good numbers over to New Farnley this weekend.
“At the start of the season the objective is always to survive, especially this season as there are three teams going down from the Premiership. The league is really tough especially with the reintroduction of overseas players of which our very own Jack Shelley is doing great this season.
“He’s a quality player and someone we have really taken to this campaign. He has 50 wickets and 900 runs in all competitions so far and he’s done really well for us.
“We’ve beat Hoylandswaine twice this season. Whether we can catch them at the top of the table who knows but we’ll give it our best shot.”
