JACK BIBBY THE HERO

At a sun soaked Honley Cricket Club Jack Bibby emerged as the hero with an incredible last ball finish in the annual Giants cricket day superbly organised and run by the HGSA.

The equation was simple – FOUR to win off the last ball – the previous two deliveries had resulted in no runs as Kieran Rush beat Bibby’s bat with regularity and against most expectations Bibby smashed the final delivery through the covers like a tracer bullet to set off on a wild lap of honour and huge celebrations for the English team with the Rest of the World slumped to the ground in total disbelief.

The day started well for Ashton Golding's Rest of the World team by winning the toss and choosing to bat. Golding led from the front as always and opened the batting alongside Tristan Powell. Golding however failed to trouble the scorers and was skittled by English Captain Matthew English and was quickly followed back by Zac Woolford who was dismissed by Thomas Burgess. The game then changed with the arrival of Jack Billington who alongside Powell gave a masterclass in batting with the pair adding nearly a century between them and demoralising the English team who made errors galore in fielding with 12 men, having phones on the field and by bowling more than the allocated two overs per player all of which were punished with 5 run penalties. With the retirement of Billington having reached 50 the charge for runs continued with Marlon Billy smashing a quick-fire unbeaten 31. The Rest of the World team finished on what was at that stage felt to be a match winning 162.

After a 30 minute break when members of the Giants squad were beaten repeatedly in a tug of war competition by every child attending and then a team assembled of cheerleaders and women's players the England team took to the field with English and Burgess opening up against the medium pace of Woolford and Powell.  Burgess was rapidly into his stride with 13 but English crawled to 5 off six overs before thankfully Golding removed his middle stump which in essence gave the England team some hope as Joe Greenwood marched to the crease and immediately despatched one Andy Kelly over for 21, McGowan for 11 and Rush for 13  being ably helped by Adam Swift who in belligerent fashion hit out powerfully. With the England team now coasting to victory Kieron Rush made two huge plays in dismissing Greenwood for 34 and the catching Swift for 35. The Rest of the World sensed victory as the run rate fell dramatically and Halsall 8, Jake Bibby 16 battled on leaving 7 to win off the final over bowled by Kieran Rush faced by George Flanagan and Jack Bibby. Somehow Flanagan ran a three leaving Bibby to perform the last ball heroics.

The overall day was a huge success watched by around 300 excited Giants fans all mingling with the first team squad and academy and women’s team members. The stalls were all busy and included a bouncy castle, hook a duck, tombolas, sweet shops, beauticians, ice creams, coffees and burgers. In short the day demonstrated all that’s good about Rugby League players mixing with the supporters, entering into everything with fun and enjoyment and a thoroughly good day was had by all.

The club would like to thank the HGSA and their magnificent team in organizing and running a truly memorable day.

Photo Credit - Lee Stanley - HGSA