13th & 14th June
Shireshead
& Forton 108 Milnthorpe 109/5
Colin Twiname (12) and Tom Jacques (19) gave Shireshead an encouraging start at Clifton Park on Saturday, but when their partnership ended at 32 it precipitated a flurry of wickets that left the home side floundering at 56/6. Phil Oliver smashed 28 from 13 balls, but the third highest partnership of the innings from David Jack (7 not out) and Phil Savage (6) was needed to take the total past 100. Lee Illingworth (6/50) and Bob Baldwin (4/45) bowled throughout the innings, receiving good support from Nathan Dixon behind the stumps and an assured fielding display.
Savage (2/28) removed Chris Baldwin (4) well caught by Tim Mansfield in his first over. Steve Bowman (15) went the same way, and with Jack (2/31) removing Dixon (6) and Andy Suddes (4) Milnthorpe were struggling at 33/4. Pod Pennington made a positive 40 from 58 balls, receiving good support from Nathan Burr (29 not out) as victory was reached with 23 overs remaining.
Shireshead
& Forton 154/7
Burneside
155/6
Colin Twiname (45) and Tom Jacques (34) added 81 in 23 overs at a sun drenched Burneside on Sunday. Unfortunately, for the visitors, the good platform was not built upon as 81/0 soon became 86/3. With spinners Steve Airey (2/30) and Paul Wilson (3/28) maintaining a stranglehold the middle order batsmen Robbie Jacques (22) and Rob Charles (20) despite running well between the wickets were denied the boundaries that were required to push the total towards 200. Phil Oliver made 16 not out from 12 balls, being dropped three times as the boundary continued to elude the batsmen.
Steve Cooper (24) and Marcus Oates (17) began well and punished the loose ball severely, whilst enjoying some luck as edges failed to go to hand. Oates fell to a good caught and bowled by Dave Jack (1/39) who bowled a lively opening spell. David Batty played himself in, and with Tom Jacques (1/39) removing Cooper and Gary Baker (5) struggling for form, Mike Park (0/20) and Phil Oliver (1/17) bowled accurate spells as only 30 runs were scored from 14 overs between the 13th and 27th overs. With 61 needed from 13 overs the game was in the balance, but Batty opened his shoulders in a fine display of selective hitting. Brilliant fielding from Charles to run out Shepherd (13) with a direct underarm throw and Jack, who fired a direct hit to the bowler’s end from 70 yards away that makes Wilson eligible to become a member of the primary club, brought renewed hope. Once more Batty found the boundary and receiving support from Chris Dixon (11 not out) ensured that it is Burneside who will go on to represent North Lancashire and Cumbria in the national rounds of the NPower Village Knockout. Batty was indubitably man of the match finishing with 70 not out from 63 balls, an innings that contained 6 fours and a six.
Milnthorpe ‘A’ 145 all out Shireshead ‘A’ 140 all out
A perfect day for cricket, with the Park Road ground basking in June sunshine, produced a tight game with the home team taking maximum points after their skipper had been very happy to win the toss and bat on a hard track with a lightening outfield.
Opening the bowling for the first time this season Malcolm Taylor (2/21) removed openers Kevin James (3), and Simon Murphy (1) the victim of a swooping Graham Swindlehurst at first slip. A third wicket partnership of 84 from Mark Moorby (42) and man of the match Chris Norman (46) looked to be setting a target beyond 200. Once again Alan Moulsdale (3/17) produced a mercilessly accurate spell from his thirteen overs, and two wickets from Rahul Sabharwal (2/42) put the brakes on the home side’s pursuit of a big total. At 143 for 7 the game was in the balance and with Craig Postlethwaite entering the contest two hundred was still possible. The return of opening bowler Joy Arun (3/30) turned the tide towards the visitors, as three wickets fell in eight balls to end the Milnthorpe innings.
Shireshead’s pursuit of victory started disastrously with only Rob Jacques (19) in the top seven achieving double figures. Chris Norman on the back of his 5/24 the previous week, destroyed the top order with figures of 6/29. At 82 for 8 the cause looked lost, but a ninth wicket partnership of 56 from Sam Clarkson (44) and Jack Dodd (24n/o) see-sawed the game back towards the visitors. Attempting to hit another six the seventeen year old wicket-keeper/batsman became another victim for Norman. With the last pairing at the crease a full toss from Chris Norman surprised Alan Moulsdale who flicked the ball straight to square leg leaving the visitors five runs short.
Shireshead 3rd 187-4 Leven Valley 146
Shireshead’s players turned up to their first game for several weeks at Ripley School wondering whether they could reverse a sequence of poor performances which had seen them gain only one point from the previous four games. With a strengthened batting line-up they were hopeful. Batting first, Shireshead’s openers, Geoff Hornby (82) and John Coates made a slow but steady start, putting on 42 before Coates was out in the 18th over. Mark Sutcliffe (47) joined Hornby and accelerated the scoring: their partnership of 84 took only 12 overs. Peter Dodd (14) joined Hornby and took the score to 180 before they both fell in quick succession just before the end of the 45th over. Veteran Hornby’s score was his highest for Shireshead.
Leven Valley’s batsmen made a good start and maintained a reasonable run rate until the 35th over. The main contributions came from M. Weaver (27), C. Storey (23) and N. Foster (25). But in the end they were undone by a truly remarkable spell by young Alex Taylor, who came back after his opening spell in which he had taken two wickets, to clear up the innings by taking five wickets in three overs. He finished with the impressive figures of 9.1-0-21-7. So a much needed 15 points for Shireshead through personal bests from an old dreamer and a young visionary, though whether this moves them up the table will depend on other results.
Morecambe 4th 136 Shireshead 3rd 137 for 8
In the first round of the 4th Division Cup competition last Sunday, Morecambe won the toss and elected to bat. Opener G. Carrol (33) proved to be the vital anchorman as he had an impressive 3rd wicket partnership of 43 with J. Abrahams (17) until he was caught and bowled by Ste Yates (3/43). M. Driscoll (27) took on his mantle and the innings closed when he was out, bowled by Alex Taylor, in the 25th over. Peter Dodd was the most accurate and economical of the bowlers, taking three wickets for 18.
In reply, Shireshead’s openers Sam Whitfield (18) and Geoff Hornby (59) made a solid start, putting on 66 for the first wicket when Whitfield was bowled by Carrol (4/36). The score mounted steadily as wickets fell and Hornby, hero of the day before kept his end up until he gave a catch to Abrahams off the bowling of J. Shepherd whose 4 wickets only cost 18 runs. Shireshead reached their target in the 28th over.