The Groundhog Day comedy started as early as 1.30pm when a few people who lived in the vicinity of Birchencliffe turned up at the Memorial Ground - they had obviously had access to the local cricket ground as a couple of pages had been ripped from a scorebook - an exercise in futility inasmuch there was not enough names to complete the Innings list and, moreover, no one to fill it in! 

Billed as the Allsop Cup 1st Round and judging by the better than average attendance, guest passes had been issued as an array of people visited the theatre to see this encounter. The Chairman turned up on his bike, potentially, wearing a bum bag from one vantage point and even TP Kaye's parents made an appearance, albeit their first visit in many a year proved not to be to their liking as they made a early retreat and strolled up the drive to seek other entertainment.  

The performance began right on schedule at 2 o' clock with the Mirfield 1st XI assuming their positions and dressed in their white's from the previous days showing. Another, 45 overs of dour, uninspiring batting again would be in store for 9 of members of the cast - understudy's John Carrington and Ajmal Zarif replacing the absent with stage fright Steve Kirkby and Naz Saudagar. The new artistes from Birchencliffe played their parts to perfection and ground out the full compliment of overs amassing a derisory 80 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in the 2 hour 20 minute performance - just pipping the troupe from Crossbank who the previous day had labouriosly crawled to 79 for 8. There had been some respite for the weary home players as both Eric Morecambe and Shirley Bassey look-a-likes turned up for cameo roles - obviously something going on at the Lawrence Batley! The reviewers are sure to nominate J. Carrington's 4 for 7 as the stand-out performance of the day. 

After the interval the versatility of the Mirfield players was recognised as the recent addition to the cast Rob 'Dickie' Holdsworth strode out with David Bolt to open the innings and rookie KP Amjad going in at 3 whilst skipper Pat Neal and veteran TP Kaye waited in the wings. Bolty and KP soon exited, so enter Ammy Mahmood, who had earlier relieved his ennui by taking a cigarette - he must be inspired by such substances since he quickly took the leading role making a quick fire 37 not out whilst Dickie played a supporting role making a patient 26 not out unperturbed by the slap-stick antics of Eric Morecambe!  

So, the successful weekend's performances come to an end and the troupe now prepare for next weeks visit to Almonbury where the stage should be more conducive to an enthralling game. 

This week’s questions: Did Bill Murray actually attend? Has anyone seen anyone so contrite and gormless as Charlie Atkinson as he walked his dog behind the bowlers arm? What other substances does Ammy actually smoke? Did Spanky really try to get Test Match tickets for Friday?

Man of the Match: J. Carrington
Fielding Point: None
Next Match: Almondbury Weslyans - Away - 26th May 2007

Birchencliffe A Innings						Mirfield A Bowling
No.	Batsman	How Out	Bowler	Runs		No.	Bowler	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	Avge
1	G.Nuttall	Ct. A.Mahmood (w/k)	J.Carrington	10		1	A.Zarif	9	5	7	1	7.00
2	O.Latif	Bowled	A.Zarif	2		2	M.Harrison	10	3	17	0	-
3	P.Martinek	Bowled	J.Carrington	13		3	B.Allen	12	0	32	1	32.00
4	A.Moxon	Bowled	J.Carrington	3		4	J.Carrington	12	6	7	4	1.75
5	M.Robinson	Bowled	B.Allen	17		5	F.Amjad	2	0	6	0	-
6	H.Mellor	Bowled	J.Carrington	8
7	R.Garside	Not Out		9
8	R.Fox	Not Out		6
9	J.Loader
10
11
			Extras	12			Extras			11
	Total	For  6	Wickets	80			Totals	45	14	80	6	13.33
Mirfield A Innings						Birchencliffe A Bowling
No.	Batsman	How Out	Bowler	Runs		No.	Bowler	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	Avge
1	R.Holdsworth	Not Out		26		1	A.Moxon	5	1	11	1	11.00
2	D.Bolt	Bowled	A.Moxon	7		2	P.Martinek	5	0	21	1	21.00
3	F.Amjad	Ct. M.Robinson	P.Martinek	3		3	R.Garside	3	0	19	0	-
4	A.Mahmood	Not Out		37		4	O.Latif	4	0	20	0	-
5	A.Kaye					5	M.Robinson	0.5	0	4	0	-
6	P.Neal
7	J.Carrington
8	M.Harrison
9	A.Zarif
10	B.Allen
11	K.Bell
			Extras	8			Extras			6
	Total	For  2	Wickets	81			Totals	17.5	1	81	2	40.50