After two years out with injury, Taran (Taz) Chana returned to 1st XI action in the second game of the season against Horsforth, although he didn’t bat he took a match winning 5-33 in an excellent 1st XI victory.

Despite a slightly slow start, impacted by university exams, Taz got up and running with his first 1st XI hundred (101) against Beckwithshaw at the Homestead off just 86 balls. This placed himself in the record books as both he and Andrew Carson registered 100s, the first time two hundreds had been scored in an innings for the 1st XI since 1953 (R Barker and Gordon Wales), the pair shared a partnership of 137.

Little did everyone know that this was just the tip of the iceberg as from here this first hundred was followed a succession of consistent performances that ended up in Taz winning the AWSCL Divison 1 batting averages by some distance. The first hundred was followed by a score of 56 away at Pool and then a magnificent 140* against Ilkley the week after, coming off 133 balls with 15x4’s and 7x6’s, including a partnership of 137 with Dom Cowley. The unbelievable thing was that Taz was able to repeat it the week after away at Burley, having been stuck in on a slightly damp track against a good bowling attack, Taz responded by hitting the ball to all parts to make 126, again better at a run a ball. This time coming off 122 balls with 18x4’s and 2x6’s, sharing a partnership of 84 with Callum Carson and 115 with George Wales. When Taz was dismissed for 48 against Rawdon the following week, he had amassed a staggering 471 runs in 5 weeks at an average of 117.75.

He was in at the end as the 1st XI beat Adel by 8 wickets scoring 15* and finished the season with a 71 against Bilton, sharing another ton plus stand (128) with Andrew Carson, 19 against Guiseley and then a fourth hundred on the last day of the season against Beckwithshaw. On the last day Taz lost partners all around and was 74* when he was joined by last man Aftaab Karim at 189-9. Taz tho was not phased and expertly farmed the strike scoring 27 in partnership of 32 where Aftaab Karim scored a vital 0* from 3 balls. Taz’s final century of the season came from 117 balls with 14x4’s and 2x6’s, the second of which with thumped over long on to bring up the 4th century.

The club record books are being checked for the last time someone scored four 1st XI hundreds in the same season!

A brilliant season for Taran, all of which is put down to a little pound coin in the pocket that had somehow found its way in for the first hundred against Beckwithshaw and wasn’t taken out for the rest of the year! His excellent personal form contributed to the brilliant finish of 3rd place for the 1st XI, his final numbers below.

Game 15 Innings14 NO 2 Runs 730 HS 140* Avg 60.83 50s 2 100s 4

A result of these fantastic numbers is that Taz has won the Divison 1 batting prize, with an average 15 higher than his nearest rival, look after that pound coin this winter!
Week by week breakdown of scores.

Gameweek Opposition (h/a) Score

2 Horsforth (h) DNB
5 Rawdon (a) 20
6 Adel (h) 10
8 Guiseley (h) 0
9 Follifoot (a) 7
10 Otley (h) 14
11 Beckwithshaw (h) 101
12 Pool (a) 58
14 Ilkley (h) 140*
15 Burley (a) 126
16 Rawdon (h) 48
17 Adel (a) 15*
18 Bilton (h) 71
19 Guiseley (h) 19
22 Beckwithshaw (a) 1

TARAN CHANA RECORD 2018
BATTING

Winner League 1st X1 Division 1 Batting ( to be confirmed by League ) 7th club member to win - last Dean Spanner 1995
Highest score 140* 2nd Best for North Leeds behind Doug Morris 155 v Horsforth 1949
Runs 8th best for club 1st X1
Centuries 4 is club record for 1st X1 in one season
101 Home v Beckwithshaw 30th June
140* Home v Ilkley 21st July
126 away at Burley 28th July
101 away at Beckwithshaw 15th September
Beats 3 by Brad Spanner 1990 and Steve Wales 1992
2 Centuries in one innings with Andy Carson