Teenager's treble just the trick!

2:30pm Sunday 3rd August 2008

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It isn’t every year that a 13-year-old wins the man-of-the-match award in a senior knockout final.

But that is what happened to Jordan Moore in the Dales Council League’s Cawthorne Cup decider.

And, just to make the adjudicator’s job easier, the medium-paced inswing bowler took a hat-trick as Hepworth & Idle B defeated holders Mount B by 98 runs in the second-team finale at Farsley.

The Hanson School pupil finished with figures of five for 11 in 7.1 overs, breaking the back of the Batley side’s batting with a devastating opening spell of four for five in four overs, two of which were maidens.

His hat-trick came with the last three balls of his first spell – two lbws and a catch – and he was recalled to the attack to finish matters off as Mount were dismissed for 94.

It was the first hat-trick in a Dales Council League cup final since Barry Finch achieved the feat for New Wortley against New Farnley in the Cawthorne Cup final of 1994.

Hepworth & Idle, who also top Division C in their first season in the league, had earlier scored 192 for eight, Paul Medley top-scoring with 55 after they won the toss.

Wrose-based teenager Moore, whose dad Ian and grandad Dennis Hostler used to play, said: “I have been playing cricket for six years and was at Hepworth & Idle as a junior before coming down to Idle, where I am now, but I have returned to Hepworth & Idle to play second-team cricket. My dad was a batsman and my grandad an all-rounder.” Moore, who is in his third season as a junior at Cavendish Road, added: “I play for their under-13s and occasionally for the under-15s.

“The under-13s have a Bradford Junior League cup final against Pudsey Congs at Idle on Sunday, August 17.

“As for Hepworth & Idle, I have played a few second-team league matches but I have been mainly used in the cup.”

Moore understandably has ambitions to play more senior cricket but hasn’t yet made his mind up which club of his two clubs he will play for, although he added: “I know all the first and second-teamers at Hepworth & Idle.”

The Westfield Lane-based club are certainly glad of Moore’s help in the knockout contests because he remembered: “I have taken two for 17, three for 24 and two for 11 in the previous rounds (against Rodley, Leeds Sikh YMCA and New Farnley C).”

The modest youngster’s other two victims in the final were bowled and caught, and he said of his figures: “I didn’t expect them at all. It was a very, very good pitch, and my team-mates just said ‘Well done’ and ‘Congratulations’ after it happened.”

Hepworth & Idle’s first team are also faring well in their inaugural campaign in the Dales Council, leading the B Division by 11 points from Halifax Direct and have also reached the Pool Paper Mills Cup (first-team) final, which was played yesterday against Pudsey Congs at Congs.

The ironic thing about Moore’s figures is that the Cawthorne Cup final programme warned Mount to watch for the three-pronged attack of captain Brian Heaton, Medley and Phil Haigh, who had figures of two for eight, none for 26 and one for 32!

The previous day, Heaton had warmed up for his very respectable effort in the final by taking seven for 48 in the five-wicket victory over Baildon C.

Medley’s 55 apart, Hepworth & Idle’s 40-over total was indebted to opener Malcolm Kershaw (29), Heaton (24 not out) and James Maddy (21), Sajid Manjra taking two for 22 and Soyeb Gora two for 24.

Gora then completed a fine match by hitting Mount’s highest score of 23 from No 11, Jetingra Singh (15), Salim Hafeji (14), Ayyaz Akalwaya (13) and Imran Gora (10) also making double figures for a club that have won the Cawthorne Cup five times.

Singh hit 102 in their second-round victory over Baildon B – the first century in the Cawthorne since 2002.

Mount restructured their club over the winter to introduce juniors into the senior sides, with, remarkably, only Bilal Soni remaining from the team that won the cup in 2007.

However, that hasn’t affected their promotion challenge and they are currently sitting in the second promotion place just a point in front of Drighlington.