Weekend Review: Greater Manchester Cricket League

Greenfield bounced back from their surprise defeat at the hands of rock bottom Royton last week as they inflicted the first defeat of the season on leaders Denton St Lawrence.

Michael Brooks, (48), was the mainstay of the Greenfield innings which ended up setting DSL 161 for the win. Left arm spinner Brad Woolley took the new ball for Greenfield as they faced a team which had topped 400 in their last two games.  And it proved to be an inspired move as he whittled away, finishing with 5-35 as the powerful DSL line-up failed for the first time this year. They ended up 33 short, leaving Greenfield in 4^thspot, 20 points adrift of the leaders.  It was a disappointing afternoon for both Woodhouses and Royton.  Woodhouses managed a paltry 107 against vistors Stand, who cruised home by 9 wickets with half the overs unused.  Royton would have been hoping to build on the win 7 days previously but chased leather as hosts Monton ran up 315-4, with 76 of those coming off the last 4 overs. Any prospect of a successful chase went with the departure of pro Chirag Khurana at 42-3 and the innings subsided to 109ao. Royton are now 20 points adrift of safety and face the prospect of Championship cricket in 2020.

Egerton 195-6 Clifton 158-9; Woodhouses 107ao Stand 109-1; Prestwich 144-8 Roe Green 148-7; Monton 315-4 Royton 109ao; Greenfield 160ao Denton SL 127ao; Flixton 89ao Woodbank 92-1

Division 1A

Moorside climbed to 2^ndin the table after travelling to Heywood and coming back with a 12 run win. They started off badly, falling to 15-3 and were indebted to Imran Khan, (56), who was supported well by the lower middle order as Moorside reached 187-9. Veteran Bobby Cross, (99*), led the fight for Heywood, batting throughout the innings, but ran out of partners, and wasn’t aided by the running with 3 of the wickets being run-out. Glodwick bounced back from 3 consecutive defeats, overcoming Glossop by 3 wickets, as they successfully chased 137 for the win. Glossop had struggled from the off, falling to 20-4 and a 4 man Glodwick attack shared the wickets. In reply Glodwick struggled to 33-4 but were put on the road to the win by a partnership of 52 between Mhammed Mohsin and Arkam Zeer.  With 7 wickets gone and 26 required Bradley Heap finished things quickly.  In a 13 ball knock he saw Glodwick to the win with a quickfire 28. Austerlands had a welcome win – only their second of the campaign - and it was a close game at Denton.  Austerlands reached 184ao, (Adam Young 60).  The Denton reply reached 143-4 but the departure of pro Umar Waheed was the signal for Austerlands to get back in the game.  They chipped away and finally came out on top by the narrow margin of 5 runs.  Uppermill had a routine victory over winless Unsworth.  They ran through the visitors, dismissing them for 98 with pro Ayaz Tasawar picking up a remarkable 7-10.  The target was no problem for Uppermill as Darren Shadford, (56) led the way.

Denton 179ao Austerlands 184ao; Denton West 153-3 Brooksbottom 152ao; Flowery Field 94ao Swinton Moorside 156ao; Heywood 177ao Moorside 187-9; Glodwick 136-7 Glossop 132ao; Uppermill 102-2 Unsworth 98ao

Division 1B

Heyside lost for the 3^rdweek in a row as they spent a long afternoon in the field as visiting Greenmount piled up 325ao, despite 6-56 from Danny Cashin.  Chasing that kind of target needs needs a good start and Ben Holt, (62), led the way.  He departed at 103-2 with 32 overs left and Heyside well in the game. Despite starts for a number of the home batsmen here was no-one to push them towards the winning post and they eventually fell for 200.  Heyside now stand 4^th, 7 points adrift of leaders Walshaw and a win against Edgworth this Saturday is key to keeping them in the race for the title.

Droylsden 109ao  Bury 113-1; Dukinfield 145-6 Whalley Range 139ao; Thornham 158ao Walshaw 163-1; Westleigh 110ao Astley & Tyldesley 111-0; Heyside 200ao Greenmount 325ao; Stayley 184-5 Edgworth 183-8

Division 2A

Shaw had an emphatic victory over a Micklehurst side that has fallen away in recent weeks. In doing so they went to the top of the table after previously unbeaten Elton lost to Littleborough Lakeside. Shaw had been buoyed by news that pro Dilanka Sandakan has agreed to stay at Holebottom Clough for two more years and he certainly proved his worth.  In the Shaw innings which ended with 296ao he got 66 with Joe Whitehead adding 55. Micklehurst crumbled when replying as Sandakan finished with 4-25, and with the other wickets being shared round Shaw came out on top by 187 runs.  Werneth posted a challenging 233-9 at Bury 2^ndXI, (half centuries for Liam Brown and Adeel Arif) but their hosts reached the target for the loss of 6 wickets.  The defeat leaves Werneth just above the trap door and a win against fellow strugglers East Lancs PM this Saturday would be welcome at the Coppice.

Bury 2^ndXI 234-6 Werneth 233-9; East Lancs PM Winton ; Elton 161-8 Littleborough Lakeside 165-3; Glossop 2^ndXI  Elton Vale ; Roe Green 2^ndXI 159-4 Prestwich 2^ndXI 158ao; Shaw 296ao Micklehurst 109ao

Division 2B 

Friarmere’s march to the title continued and two balls into the game, as visitors Ashton had fallen to 0-2, an early finish looked to be on the cards given the Rayner Lane teams fragile batting line-up.  However, they fought back really well and managed a decent total of 208, (Abid Hussain 5-62). This proved little problem for the leaders as they cruised home by 7 wickets.  Run machine Adrian du Toit, (104*), with his 3^rdcentury of the campaign led the way, and is now only a handful short of 900 for the year. Oldham had a comfortable win over Denton West 2^ndXI after reaching 184ao, (Jahangir Sabir 70) and then disposed of the visitors to the Pollards, dismissing them for 109 with father and son combination Rashid and Hamza Hussain picking up 7-21 between them.

Deane & Derby 239ao Greenfield 2^ndXI 135ao; Edenfield 61-1 Tottington St Johns 60ao; Stretford 68ao SW Manchester 97ao; Whalley Range 2^ndXI 160ao Wythenshawe 276-7; Friarmere 209-3 Ashton 208ao; Oldham 184ao Denton West 2^ndXI 109ao

Division 3 East

Saddleworth won for the 10^thtime this year, preserving their 100% record from completed games.  The game saw the innings of the day with Asad Ali smashingd 165 as Saddleworth reached 313ao.  Visitors Glodwick 2^ndXI had no answer to this as they finished on 150-8. Springhead are in 2^ndplace after a 5 wicket win over Denton 2^ndXI. They reduced Denton to 23-5 before a recover which led to a final total of 143, (Parvez Hussain 4-40). Jamie Dell top scored with 49 in the Springhead reply as they eased to the win inside 23 overs.

Denton SL 2^ndXI 137ao Flowery Field 2^ndXI 148ao; Springhead 144-5 Denton 2^ndXI 143ao; Stand 2^ndXI 97-3 Oldham 2^ndXI 96ao; Unsworth 2^ndXI 182-4 Dukinfield 2^ndXI 179ao; Saddleworth 313ao Glodwick 2^ndXI 150-8; Werneth 2^ndXI 191-4 Heywood 2^ndXI 189-8

Division 4 East

In the local derby at Failsworth Macedonia the visitors Newton Heath came out on top by 23 runs in a reasonably high scoring game.  Newton Heath totalled 233ao, (Michael Clewlow starring with 115).  Cory McLeod picked up 4-42 for Macedonia. In the reply the hosts saw Ethan Shackley top score with 55 but they fell to 160-8.  Some late order hitting from McLeod, (42) saw them get to 201, (David Winstanley 4-48).

Ashton Ladysmith 140-8 Thornham 2^ndXI 138-9; Failsworth Macedonia 210ao Newton Heath 233ao; Royton 2^ndXI 133ao Stayley 2^ndXI 137-6; Ashton 2^ndXI 69ao Friarmere 2^ndXI 237ao; Moorside 2^ndXI  272-3 Heyside 2^ndXI 31ao; United Stars 217ao Woodhouses 2^ndXI 136ao

By Roger Halstead