Bradford side Eldwick & Gilstead glad to finally win trophy

Enthusiastic all day under the leadership of Arnie Raistrick, they were worthy winners of the Timothy Taylors Craven League’s Manorlands Plate final at Keighley Cricket Club.

They began by defeating Bowling Baptists by six wickets in the semi-final and then saw off their landlords Riddlesden in the final by 14 runs, with E&G’s Palwinder Kumar being named man of the match for his 3-16.

Eldwick & Gilstead spent four years at Bradford & Bingley - across the river at Aire View - before their move to Grange Road, where they have ground-shared with Riddlesden for the past seven seasons.

When they left Dick Hudson’s there was serious doubt as to whether Eldwick & Gilstead would survive.

They had to concede matches due to being unable to raise a team, players moving elsewhere due to the uncertainty, and they were relegated to Division Four after the 2013 campaign.

However, they were promoted twice in four seasons, before going up from Division Two in 2022 as runners-up behind Riddlesden.

Raistrick said: “We only have three or four lads left from when we played at Dick Hudson’s and we lost players then, mainly to Haworth Road Meths, because we didn’t think that we would have a pitch.

“We have to give big thanks to Riddlesden who have allowed us to use their pitch every other week.

“It is mainly thanks to them that we are still going, so it was probably bittersweet for them that we beat them in the final.

Arnie Raistrick beams with delight after being handed the Manorlands Plate trophy by Keighley Cricket Club president Bob Cryer. (Image: Aimee Bayliss.)

“We were short of players for a bit, but the Coes (Anne and Trevor), who have left the league now, did us a big favour by giving us special dispensation for us to carry on that year, and a couple of lads brought another couple of lads and from there the squad has built.

“Now we have a decent squad, a good set of lads and even though we had three, four, five players missing at the weekend, we could still compete without them.

“It has been a long road, but we have played together for a lot of years now and we deserve this title.

“Getting into the top flight was a big achievement and we did it on the last day in 2022 with a win, but we have never won anything in my 20-odd years here, apart from a Covid trophy, until now as we have always been promoted in second or third place.

“We are a really close set of lads, and that is the main thing.

“We play for each other and if we folded a lot of the lads wouldn’t play anywhere else because they come for us.

“They don’t come for the cricket as such, and this achievement probably trumps getting into the First Division.”

Helped by reinforcements like Ajeet Singh and Sunil Yadav, E&G were the deserving winners of this ‘Hundred’ tournament.

They were superb in their semi-final, dismissing a dangerous Bowling Baptist side for just 62.

Shahbaz Ishaq top scored with 20 for the Division Two title hopefuls, but Matthew Sharp (3-14), Matthew Rogers (2-13) and captain Raistrick (2-15) ran through their opponents.

That was easily knocked off, with Charlie Raistrick scoring 22 not out and Sharp adding 20 in a winning total of 66-4.

The final was a tighter affair, as Eldwick & Gilstead came up against a Riddlesden side who had thumped Skipton CI by 88 runs in their last-four encounter.

Riddlesden won the toss and inserted their tenants, who struggled a little in making 101-6 off their 100 balls.

Jordan Bayliss made a crucial 32 not out, while Sharp again chipped in with useful runs, scoring 25.

Kumar’s 3-16 then proved the biggest difference in the reply, while he was well supported by E&G team-mates Singh (3-20) and Sharp (2-23), with Riddlesden bowled out for just 87.

Palwinder Kumar made the difference for Eldwick & Gilstead in the final, and collected the man of the match award. (Image: Aimee Bayliss.)

Eldwick & Gilstead are not quite going to make it a memorable double this summer, with captain Raistrick saying: “At the start of the season we didn’t want to go down, but we are in the running for second place.

“We are in the right division, and I think that on our day we are the best team in the league.

“However, our problem is that we don’t have the same team every week due to lads being new dads or due to work or going on holidays.

“That is a negative that we can’t have our full-strength team out every week, but it is a positive that that we have 16 lads who can play over the course of the season.

“If we had the same team most weeks we would probably end up losing three or four and then we would probably have to fold, but we always have a strong enough team to compete.

“If we had a full-strength team every week, we would be challenging for first, but as long as we finish second, third fourth or fifth I will be happy.”