Huddersfield 22-34 Wakefield

Veterans League
Jul 26
3 min read

Veterans League

Just when the Inter-District teams thought things couldn't get any worse, along comes a Wakefield team that had lost all their matches this season. That is until this week when they beat the Huddersfield team by 34-22 which is the first time that they have done that since records are first available which takes us back to 2018.

That result hasn't come about because Wakefield had miraculously got better, they had lost all their previous four matches this season, although it should be said that 3 of those 4 defeats came against the top three teams in the League. Our team no longer resides in such lofty placings. The Wakefield team, along with Castleford have been the 'whipping boys' of the League for many years but they keep soldiering on waiting for a good day which came along last Friday for the Wakefield boys.

It may well be that the conditions played a huge part in this shock result. I was at Outwood BC with the away team playing on a green that should have been prosecuted under the Trade Description Act, it was brown. I'm not blaming the host club, most greens are like this after the last few weeks of no rain, and a hosepipe ban still in place but it does make the outcome a bit of a lottery. It was embarrassing at times as the best woods could be 5-12 yards away from the jack with shouts of desperation from vastly experienced bowlers struggling to master the conditions including one shout of 'I give up'. They didn't of course, but the message was clear, the green was winning.

Bowlers would usually be trying to master their opponents; this day they were fighting to master the green and usually the green was winning. Bowlers were looking towards the heavens for aid or inspiration but all they could see was another Jet2 plane dropping down to land at Leeds/Bradford.

Not everything was negative about the day, the catering was very good, and a decent bunch of spectators littered the surrounds with a 2-2 scoreline at the half-time break, although this was countered by news filtering through that the home team was losing 1-3 at Hemplow. I don't know what the Hemplow green was like but I fear that if it was a replica of the Outwood then any score could be logged.

Worse was to come as the continuing sunshine ensured that the brown Outwood green continued to run really fast and unpredictably. One bowler told me that it you only had to get the pace wrong slightly to find yourself deep in an unseen valley, taking you away from the jack. But as we always say on such days 'it is the same for both teams' but it does become more a lottery than a game of skill and precision with tactics playing a minor role as bowlers tried their best to master the conditions.

The away team failed to find a winner from their last four on the green, whilst the home team recorded a 3-1 second half come-back to make it 4-4 in games at full time at Hemplow and 6-10 in total. Under the complex scoring system that saw a final points score going in favour of Wakefield of 34-22, giving them a first win over Huddersfield since 2018.

Not sure that much can be gleaned from the day's results as regards selection for the next set of fixtures. Without labouring the point, the green levelled out any advantage one bowler may have had, and little can be taken as a true indicator of the potential of any bowler, based on Friday's results.

The West Riding continue to set a hot pace at the top of the table and now hold a massive 56-point lead over the chasing teams from Leeds and Bradford who are on the same 180 points mark. The target of 56 points is the maximum points any team can secure in any one match, although I cannot recall it ever being reached, so the West Riding team isn't likely to come under much pressure any time soon.

RESULTS

Friday 24 July

Halifax 31-25 Skipton

Leeds 35-21 Bradford

West Riding 42-14 Castleford

Wakefield 34-22 Huddersfield

Bye: Aire & Wharfe

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