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26th April 2025- Blackley - league
The 2’s started their 2025 season off against the team we finished up against in September of 2024- Blackley. Thankfully, they were sober this time round, although the sound thrashing, we handed out perhaps suggest they should have carried on with their alcohol intake over the Winter. New skipper Tyson Illingworth won the toss on a more than decent late April day and put our guests into bat. Hampy took the first wicket of the season to have Blackley at 37 for 1, with Tyson taking the next wicket to fall (63-2), meaning that our visitors for the afternoon had a decent platform on which to build a more than decent total. Step forward Rob Larkin who took 4 for 37 to swing the game back in our favour. Sandwiched in between the wickets for Rob was a wicket on senior debut for Saahil Mansha. The skipper (3 for 44) and Naman (1 for 11) polished off the tail, in spite of a 32 run last-wicket partnership. A big shout out to the returning Bill Keighley who made his second debut for the club, some 10 years after he last played.
Greeny and Mark timed the chase to perfection, getting there with 2.5 overs left and nine wickets in hand. Not a lot to add to that given that losing the only wicket of our innings when we were five short of victory more than tells its own story. A fabulous 110 from Mark, more than backed up by 61 not out from Greeny. TK took the glory and hit the winning runs. 12 points- thank you very much.
3rd May 2025- Greetland - league
If weekend one of the season was a dream start, then we were brought back down to earth with a bump for our first away fixture of the season at Greetland. A few changes to the week 1 line up didn’t help matters with Rob Larkin still putting his hand up to play despite having to disappear for a rugby presentation halfway through the first innings. We bowled first and despite having our hosts at 23 for 2, subsequent partnerships of 80 and then 63 took Greetland to a better than average score of 230 for 9 from their 45 overs with their last two batters on 22 and 26 not out at the end. Ajay and Mark were our top scorers in our reply as we went from 36 for 2 to 36 for 4 and then from 61 for 5 to 67 for 7 before some late runs took our score to within sight of decency but without reaching the first batting point.
10th May 2025- Copley - league
A weakened side took to the field at home to Copley seven days later in conditions more befitting of mid-July than the first ten days of May. We were on a bit of a hiding to nothing if we’re being honest, and Copley’s score of 258 for 4 having batted first is testament to that. Ajay and Saahil with two wickets a piece. Once again, Mark Fellows came to the fore with the bat and scored 81 out of our total of 137, with only two other players making double figures as our reply petered out inside 41 overs and 121 runs shy of our target.
17th May 2025- Upper Hopton - league
An early finish, lovely setting and cracking teas were the main highlights of our visit to Upper Hopton as we entered the second half of May. We lost the toss and were asked to bat first on a low and slow track. We were on the end of a couple of questionable LBW decisions and were the architects of our downfall for a few more wickets. Browny and Tyson the two mainstays of the innings with 27 not out and 26 respectively, with useful contributions for Rohit and Matty. Rob took two wickets as we went in search of an improbable win, but 114 was never going to be enough and our hosts romped home by seven wickets and with 15 overs left.
18th May 2025- Outlane – Crossley Shield
24 hours later and a complete turnaround against lower league opposition in our first outing of the 2025 Crossley Shield. Having lost the toss and being asked to field first, we had our visitors for the afternoon at 19 for 3 and then 20 for 4 with Naman and Mike taking the wickets between them. Some middle order resistance, a few dropped catches allowed an Outlane recovery of sorts before Ajay and Phil ‘the twirl’ Earle wrapped up the opposition tale to leave us chasing a victory target of 174. Naman the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 49 and a run out. Job done inside 30 overs as Jonathan (81*) and Mark (65) made light work of the Outlane attack and got us to 162 before the first wicket left. TK then joined Jonathan for the final few deliveries of the match and had the honour of hitting the winning runs. Onto the quarter finals.
24th May 2025 – Illingworth - league
Our final home match of May saw us welcome table topping Illingworth to the ‘Stute. We lost the toss and were asked to bat first. Dave and Tony steadied the ship after the early loss of our first wicket with an 81 run 2nd wicket partnership, with Tony being the main aggressor in the partnership and he’d go on to make 59 before being bowled as we tried to up the run rate as we entered the latter stages of our innings. Tyson (38) was the only other player to make double figures as our tail failed to wag with our last six wickets falling for 25 as we went from 134-4 to 159 all out in the final over of our innings.
At halfway of our guests reply, we had them 86 for 6 and we were in with a real shout of pulling off a shock. Unfortunately, no further wickets fell, and we were left to rue what might have been. The returning Simon Hampshire had a most welcome return to form with 4 for 48 with Naman 2 for 36 the only other player to have success in the wickets column. If a couple of near misses and dropped catches had gone our way, then the outcome may have been different as Illingworth got to their target with exactly 15 overs left.
31st May 2025 – Illingworth - league
And so onto the final day of May and a worse performance than that compared to seven days previously including seven, yes seven dropped catches, but a win and ten very welcome points. Funny old game. Batting first on a very, very green track, we were very quickly reduced to 7 for 2 with DB and TK back in the hut without troubling the scorers. A much-needed partnership between Jonathan and Dan then followed with the latter showing his class with a well-made 29 before being undone by a slower ball. Tyson’s innings changed the context of the game with 61 from 65 balls to give our innings the momentum it needed and put our hosts on the back foot. Support for Tyson came from the returning Ikhlaq who made 21. Despite losing both of these players for the addition of only one run, Mike, Rob and Rohit added 34 between them for the 8th, 9th and 10th wicket and these runs would prove to be crucial.
Thankfully, the hat full of dropped catches didn’t cause us any more damage than not being able to pick up maximum points which we felt we deserved with our bowling and ground fielding. Wickets were taken at the right time with Mike the star of the show with 4 for 30 from his allotted 14 overs. Tyson and Rob also chipped in with two wickets each and Mike effected a run out to leave the Great Horton opening batter who, shall we generously say was dogged throughout the 45 overs he batted stranded with the opposition number 11 as their run chase petered out with them 25 short of victory but with us agonisingly short of the one wicket we needed to make it only our second 12 point haul of the season.