NEWS

INFORMATION

County proposals to rationalise when 2022 Yorkshire Festival fixtures are played to fit in with County trials, etc have been accepted and the u13 & u15 Festivals will now be played during Spring Bank week [except Finals]. UAJCA fixtures as follows:

The Winter Academy will run Friday 14th January 2022 up to & inc Friday 1st April [exc half-term weeks 18th & 25th February]. All sessions will be of 2 hours commencing promptly at 7:00pm.

Emails of invitation have been sent  [28th October] to parents of prospective students who have played for a UAJCA Representative team in 2021 or have been recommended by their club.2

UAJCA returned to the fabulous Malham Suite at the Rendezvous Hotel in Skipton after a 1-year absence due to Covid-19 lockdown regulations. This time in order to minimise risks of infection the awards presentation was split into five separate age-related phases to reduce the numbers of attendees in the room at any one time.

For 2021 we were honoured with guests: Mr Mark Arthur from Yorkshire County Cricket Club and Rachael Slater a young professional with the Northern Diamonds which is based at Headingly.

The officials led the thanks for UAJCA principal Partners

and all the competition sponsors CartaSport, Brook Taverner, Pro Coach Yorkshire Cricket, The Keighley Cup Committee, Black Rat Cricket, and of course the Rendezvous Hotel for continued invaluable support over many years. In addition Dobson & Robinson [Ilkley] and M C Sports [Skipton] generously support UAJCA Representative Teams with kit discounts. UAJCA is also grateful to photographer Neil Bishop for the photography Rendezvous Awards [a few early movements have produced blurring].

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As in previous seasons, there will be presentation to all Champions and Cup winners, Representative prizes, league skills prizes and the six Cricketers-of-the-Year. This year also sees the introduction of 18 Progress Awards for the Under-9 Development Programme. A total of 71 Prizes will be distributed.

The long-awaited Barritt-Stephenson Cup Final was finally played at The Flatt, Oxenhope CC on Sunday 5th September. Skipton won the toss and elected to field. The early wicket of Syed Hussain by Aniq Tabassum was a great start for the Aire-Wharfe boys but then no 3 Mohammed Taha Iftikhar joined Hashim Khokhar in a great stand to bring the Bradford boys back into contention. Mohammed retired with 25 to his name whilst Hashim [22] was eventually caught off the bowling of 10th bowler Ed Swallow who also bowled Subhaan Ghaffar [8] in his one over. The GHC total reached 87-3 to leave the match potentially evenly-poised. All the Skipton bowlers stuck at their task admirably.

Skipton openers Tom McCormick and Blake Aldersley really knuckled down and their opening stand of 32 gave them great heart. Blake was bowled by Ayaan Munawar for 19 whilst Tom was a victim for Simrah Ahmed for 10. But 16 fielding extras and Aniq Tabassum kept Skipton well in the limelight and his 25 retirement set up a likely win. But the overs were running out and when Skipton reached 84-5 only 4 runs were needed for a North Conference victory. But the pressure told and wickets for Mohammed Zain Khan, Ayaan Ahsan and Hashim Khokhar were followed by run outs for Harris Taylor and Thomas Peart to confound the Skipton charge at 86-8. GHC had claimed a remarkable win by the narrowest of margins on the last ball of the match. It was GHC fourth win in consecutive seasons. Congratulations to Zaffran and his team. But the winning accolades also go to the game itself which proved a superb advert for local junior cricket. Well done to all that took part. The joint Players of teh Match were adjudged as Mohammed Taha [GHC] and Aniq Tabassum [Skipton] who almost snatched the result with his fine batting.

Former UAJCA young cricketer Will Luxton reflected on his excellent debut 68 after rain prevented Yorkshire and Northamptonshire from pursuing a Royal London Cup victory at Scarborough.

18-year-old batsman Luxton came into Yorkshire’s team for his first-team debut and brilliantly led a recovery from 69-6 to 222 all out.The Bradford Grammar School educated right-hander was watched by his parents amongst other family and hit five fours and two sixes down the ground in an 85-ball knock which ended with a standing ovation from large parts of the 2,169 crowd.

Yorkshire’s Academy captain shared recovering half-century partnerships with Matthew Waite and Mat Pillans and said: “It was a pretty good feeling to be out there.  “The crowd was class and all my team-mates were behind me. “It gives me that confidence that I can do it in the next few games.”

In 16 games across all cricket, including this game and two Yorkshire friendlies against Durham at Emerald Headingley in March, Luxton has scored 513 runs with a century and three fifties.

“I’ve been going alright in the Academy this year,” he said. “I haven’t played much second team, but it’s been good.”

The Northants chase was aborted at 2-0 after five balls, with no play beyond 3.05pm. A restart was pencilled in for 5.50pm when the visitors would have required 71 more from 9.1 overs to complete the minimum 10 overs to constitute a game. But a wet outfield prevented that.

“We said it was a tricky pitch and it did a bit,” added Luxton. “Our start wasn’t great, but we’ve got a decent bowling attack. So why couldn’t we have defended 223? “If we struggled with our batting, so could they. “We were always confident, but we just needed to get off to that good start. Unfortunately we weren’t able to do it.”

The Championship Play-Off with the North Conference winners is scheduled for Friday 23rd July at either of the team grounds. The North Conference is as yet unresolved with Skipton and Settle in contention.  Skipton have one remaining fixture away at Sutton whilst Settle must play U Wharfedale [Away] and Embsay [Home].

At Grassington on 4th July an early wicket for Skipton u13s by Aniq Tabassum was a good start to the Hindle Cup Final. But the GHC batsmen gradually turned up the heat with Ibrahim Khan and Eshaan Lohdi both retiring at better than a run per ball.  As the GHC total mounted, the Skipton fielding became more ragged and later batsmen Abdullah Hussain, Subhaan Ali and Armaan Mahmood really pressed the accelerator and GHC tally propelled to 221-4 after 29 overs when lightning brought the players from the field.  GHC declared their innings and the two managers consulted to complete the match the following Sunday at Skipton CC.

Sadly for the North Conference winners their innings subdued meekly with only former County opener Joe Birks resisting on 19before bowled by Subhaan Ali. Their total reached just 57 in the 13th over when the curtain finally fell granting GHC a 164 run margin. Subhaan Ali returned 4-5 from 21 balls backed by Noah Thirkill with 3-5 from 18.  So GHC retained the Hindle Cup in grand style for a further 12 months.

Yet more honours for UAJCA with the selection of Sutton's Sam Stoneman for the County under-12s. Well done Sam... keep up with the pressure and fly the flag

Oakworth under-18s faced Skipton in the T20 competition for the u-18 Championship at Wide Lane and batted first. Half-centuries for Ellis Marshall [28 balls] and Lucas Keslinke [25 balls] were the pace-setters but the back up from James Powell 41 [20 balls], Bilaal Khan 33 [26 balls] and Bradley Powell 25 [11 balls] propelled their score to 238-5 to eclipse the previous UAJCA u-17/18 record set in 2009 by Sutton's Championship team against Haworth. Skipton gamely pursued but expired at 110-9 [Capt Ben Southern 27 no]

Great Horton Church player and skipper of UAJCA Hamza Saeed has at last been recognised for his efforts and has been selected for the County under-14s squad. Well done Hamza, great work.

Oakworth CC' Joe Powell has made it through the Regional Cricket selection process into the County under-11s squad.

 Joe, who plays for North Yorkshire will be hoping to follow other UAJCA players and make his presence felt and gain a long term position for the County. The really hard work starts now!

Superbly well done Joe. Congratulations

THE BLACK RAT INFESTIVAL

 FOR 2021 IS NOW CANCELLED

The Committee of the Skipton Cricket Club have today 15th June determined that the scheduled 2021 event can not go ahead. Despite Government relaxation of lockdown [indoor weddings] the planned safety precautions,  hygiene regulations and social-distancing protocols are not viewed as sufficient to prevent infection in the light of rising numbers of cases of the Delta Variant.  UAJCA respects the prerogative of the Skipton Cricket Club and confirms policy expressing sympathetic response to the need for clubs to exercise their own protocols during the Pandemic.

Under-10s report to follow.....

The UAJCA big lads will have to wait a little longer to take on  the prestigious senior XL40 Club. The match scheduled for Bank Holiday Sunday 30th May at Giggleswick School has now fallen victim to the atrocious weather.

The good news is that UAJCA and XL are actively trying to find a suitable rearrangement option for later in the summer.

Alex Hall [Earby], Archie Brooksbank [Crossflatts], Armaan Mahmood [GHC], Ben Jolly [Earby], Charlie Price [Skipton], Eddie Fordham [Oxenhope], Freddie Ward [Earby], Noah Kennedy [Skipton], Ryan Lee [Skipton], Sam Stoneman [Sutton], Thomas Mountain [Embsay], Sam Walker [Settle], Mohammed Hassan Khan GHC] and Tobias O’Shaughnessy [Crossflatts].

UNDER-10 K3 DENTAL KNOCK OUT CUP

Following the announcement that indoor training will not be permitted until 17th May, UAJCA has switched the venue for its annual trials from South Craven School to the excellent outdoor Nets facility at Bradford & Bingley CC. on 18th April.

Parents please note that due to Covid-19 restrictions parents will not be allowed to congregate and watch the trials.

Invitations to trial have been emailed to prospective UAJCA representative squad members on 21st March.

Time	Age-Group	Selectors
09:00-10:30	under-10	Alex Haworth & Chris Cummings
10:30-12:00	under-11	Andy Galley & Chris Cummings
12:30-14:00	under-12	Mark Stoneman & Tony Fordham
14:00-15:30	under-13	Robin Youngman & Malcolm Birks
15:30-17:00	under-15	Ji Mukherjee, Andy Keslinke & Jim Lampkin

THREE BECOME UAJCA FIRST GIRLS' HUB CLUBs

Girls wanting to play girls cricket now have the option of the Hub where the intention is to create an all-girls team[s] whilst other clubs will continue to offer places in mixed boys and girls teams.

WHO TO CONTACT

So whatever your preference there's a place for girls at all UAJCA Clubs. Your age doesn't matter, as UAJCA seeks to get girls of all ages playing cricket. Watch this space for further developments.

Former Skipton junior James Mukherjee [photo courtesy John Heald] returned a tidy 0-21 from 8 overs as the Durham batsmen made hay.

The UAJCA big lads are to have an Annual fixture with the prestigious senior XL40 Club. The first match will be in 2021 on Bank Holiday Sunday 30th May at a venue to be confirmed.

XL40 Club Chairman Kevin Owens has threatened to find better players to take on an UAJCA under-19 team  in 2021. This will enable those UAJCA players which have missed out on Joe Lumb Cup cricket in 2020 to be eligible. Additionally Joe Lumb Cup manager Adnaan Shafique will nominate players for this year's Cup team. The team will be managed in 2020 by Neil Bishop [Haworth CC]

The venue in 2021 will be at Giggleswick School, 1:00pm start time and duration of 40 overs. 

NEW MANAGERS FOR UAJCA in 2021

A number of UAJCA managers from 2019/2020 have now stood down and our grateful thanks are offered to Oliver Gledhill and Neil Bishop. for their contributions in providing representative cricket in UAJCA.

In their places we are delighted to have Robin Youngman [under-13] and Andy Galley [under-11] to join the group which still includes Adnaan Shafique [under-17 Joe Lumb Cup], Ji Mukherjee [under-15], Mark Stoneman [under-12] and Alex Howarth [under-10]. Coach Chris Cummings will assist both u10 and u11 teams

ECB STATEMENT January 6th

This statement applies to changes in England following the Prime Minister’s announcement on 4 January of new national lockdown restrictions. In England, ECB can confirm that unfortunately all indoor and outdoor privately owned cricket facilities will now need to close for all but elite cricket activity and disability cricket outdoors.

Cricket clubs in public open spaces such as parks can continue to provide outdoor spaces for individual permitted activity.

Government confirms you can exercise in a public outdoor place:

• by yourself

• with the people you live with

• with your support bubble (if legally permitted to form one)

• in a childcare bubble where providing childcare

• or, when on your own, with 1 person from another household

Public outdoor places include:

• parks, beaches, countryside accessible to the public, forests

• public gardens (whether or not you pay to enter them)

• the grounds of a heritage site

• playgrounds

Any public outdoor place used for permitted individual cricket exercise activity should be suitable and safe for the type of cricket activity taking place. You must ensure that you have sought and gained permission to use facilities in a public open space and that it is safe to do so. If a club or local authority have closed cricket facilities within a public open space they should not be used. 

There is a risk that during the winter both natural turf cricket squares and non-turf surfaces can be damaged when wet, frozen or snow-covered. These conditions also increase injury risk to participants. Furthermore, essential safety equipment such as netting may have been removed. Therefore, facilities should not be used unless they are safe and will not be damaged. Where cricket can take place, adequate measures must be taken to keep warm and minimise injury risk, including to other members of the public sharing the open space.  You should be considerate to other users of public open space.

Cricket as we know is a naturally socially distanced sport that is safe to play and gives people of all ages the opportunity to exercise with friends or relatives. We know how important cricket is for people’s physical and mental health and we will continue to liaise with the Government for us to come back as soon as possible.

We know that this is incredibly disappointing and frustrating news for all involved with the game, as well as presenting further significant financial challenges. Further information on current financial support available from Government this week. and the ECB will also continue to engage with Government to help ensure that the cricket community is supported through the coming weeks and months.

The Government has confirmed that elite sport is able to continue in line with the strict protocols and measures that are in place for it. Organised outdoor sport for disabled people is also allowed to continue, and we will provide further detail here on this once we have information from Government.

The Government has advised that this guidance should be followed immediately, and will be updating the law to reflect the new rules. There will be a review of the restrictions on 15 February. Further detailed guidance on what you can and cannot do can be found here.