WE HAVE THE TEAM TO
So what is a wide down the leg side?
WHAT do you consider to be a leg-side wide?
Most people think it’s anything that goes outside leg stump and doesn’t make contact with bat or batsman.
But that’s not strictly correct according to the new Drakes League rule, which appears on page 66 of the handbook and makes reference to the batsman’s normal batting stance.
So for instance, if someone takes a leg-stump guard, their normal stance as the bowler runs up could take them a foot outside leg stump – giving the bowler (according to rule) a corridor of grace outside leg stump.
It doesn’t matter where the batsman eventually ends up – usually they move across their stumps – it’s all about the normal batting stance (ie where they started).
League match and registration secretary Phil Senior has come up with some interesting statistics which show the number of wides have gone up.
So are umpires giving everything down the leg side as a wide?
The figures also show that numbers of byes and leg byes have come down (presumably because a lot of the byes are now being given as wides).
Up to date this season, there have been 365 Drakes games.
Total runs from the bat have been 114,093 and total runs conceded by the bowlers have been 119, 798 – so there have been 5,705 wides and no-balls.
The total team runs have been 125,789, meaning there have been 5,991 byes and leg byes.
In 2014, there were a total of 756 games played – just over twice the current number already recorded this summer.
Runs from the bat in 2014 were 216,071, with runs conceded by the bowlers 223,541. So the number of wides and no-balls was 7,470.
Half that number of wides and no-balls is 3,735, whereas this season the number is already 5,705 in less than half the matches.
The total runs scored is increasing – presumably because of the extra deliveries for wides – but the bad news for bowlers is clearly that their figures are getting worse! KIRKBURTON skipper Andy Smith firmly believes they’re capable of winning some silverware at Riley Lane this season.
The 27-year-old allrounder, in his second summer at the helm, is frustrated they’ve blown some league points and aren’t closer to the top four in the Drakes Premiership.
But they are still in the arrowselfdrive Sykes Cup, where they will visit Golcar in a re-started quarterfinal on Sunday, and in the last eight of the Heavy Woollen Cup – a competition in which they were semi-finalists a year ago.
In the Heavy Woollen, Kirkburton are at Drakes League rivals Hoylandswaine.
“We have again had some changes and are gelling in four or five new players, but we’ve got a good balance to the side and where we’ve gone down this season we’ve lost the matches ourselves,” said Smith, who has 446 runs and 22 wickets to his name going into this weekend’s league and cup double header against Golcar.
“Barring those games where we’ve let ourselves down we’d be a lot nearer the top four, and I honestly believe that if we turn up as a team we can win the Sykes Cup – we are certainly capable – and we’re also keen to keep going in the Heavy Woollen having made the last four last season.
“We have a lot of matchwinners in our side and, if we stick together, then we can definitely achieve good things.”
Smith is setting a fine example with bat and ball but feels the whole team have a lot to play for coming towards the half way point in the season.
They have bags of experience with both willow and leather in hand and Smith is confident that will see them in good stead to climb from a current eighth in the standings.
“Asif Hussain has come in as our overseas and done a hell of a job,” said Smith of the Pakistani first-class player who has so far hammered 619 league and cup runs at 88.43.
“He seems pretty cool when he’s under pressure – he’s a very chilled out sort of guy – and he plays the game situation very well indeed.
“He is a really nice guy who has slotted in well straight away, and it’s not easy to gel quickly as an overseas in a new team and environment, as I know from my own personal experience.
“I went to New Zealand in 2012 to play with Nae- nae in Wellington, the same team Danny Glover (Shepley) played with last winter and Tom Burkinshaw (his Kirkburton teammate) has done over the years.
“I went to open the batting and didn’t do very well at all. I struggled because the opening batters over there are basically cannon fodder who have to try and wear off the new ball as much as they can, allowing the others to come in and smash it.
“I found it a difficult place to go and bat because of the conditions and the value you got for your shots – outfields were often long and we also encountered artificial pitches – but I did come back a better player for the whole experience and scored 850 runs when I came home.
“So I think Asif has dome brilliantly to come in here and go as well as he has, and hopefully he’ll keep it going the whole season long.”
Smith – a cabinet maker with Kitchen Creations – also has the vastly-experi- enced Iqbal Khan to call on as a valuable all-rounder, in addition to Burkinshaw, Jonny Butterfield and Craig Fletcher, who has returned to Riley Lane this time from Delph.
“No-one knows how old Iqqy is, but he is doing well with bat and ball and he’s a wise head to help me out and plays a massive part in our team,” added Smith.
“People like him, Asif, Jonny and Fletch can always win you a game – I’ve been pleased with my own season as well so far, because it helps when the captain is stepping up – and we’ve got others like Nick Sharp who have won us a couple of games and people wanting to play their part.
“We have good juniors coming through and getting a taste of it, too, like Rory France, and I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t win a Sykes Cup, for instance, if we turn up and perform.
“We want to do well in that, the Heavy Woollen and get a lot closer in the league. I think that would be a good season for us.”