Weekend Review: Greater Manchester Cricket League

For the second week in a row the GMCL programme was severely affected by the weather. 

Many games failed to start; others were curtailed when mid-afternoon rain halted proceedings but there were some games which reached a conclusion, albeit with the use of the DLS calculations.  Locally Denton West and Mottram now lead their respective divisions.  24 hours earlier the T20 competition got underway and saw wins for Ashton; Mottram and Dukinfield.

Saturday 15^th May:

Premier 1:

Denton SL fell victim to the rain for the second Saturday in a row and will be looking to get back into action when they travel to high flying Prestwich this weekend.  There was a notable performance by Roe Green’s Stephen Bliss who ended with a remarkable 9-20, (including a hat-trick), as they easily overcame Glodwick.

Clifton 35-2 v Greenfield (abandoned after 7 overs); Roe Green 157-6 Glodwick 78ao; (Other games abandoned - no play)

Premier 2:

Play got under way at Denton West just in time to have the minimum game of 20 overs a side.  The home side, facing local rivals Glossop, reached 155-6.  Aaqib Uppal is in fine form at the moment and his unbeaten 73, off 45 balls provided the impetus. In the reply Harry Dearden, making his first appearance of the season fell for 19, but with 104 needed off 19 overs and eight wickets left the game was in the balance.  However, the visitors fell away after that, and with Luke Melling taking 5-24 Glossop fell 40 short of their target and left West topping the table.

Flowery Field visited Woodhouses but only 17 overs was possible. In that time Flowery reached 72-4, (Owen Feakes 32). They are in fifth place, eight points behind the leaders.

Denton West 155-6 Glossop 116-9; Bury 180-6 Bradshaw 126ao; Woodhouses v Flowery Field 72-4 (abandoned after 17 overs); (Other games abandoned – no play)

Championship:

Stayley were due to host GMCL newcomers Heaton who have had an impressive start, but rain prevented any play.

Whalley Range 93-9 Westleigh 92ao (Other games abandoned – no play)

Division 1:

Mottram top the table after a low scoring game at SW Manchester.  On a difficult wicket they worked hard to total 126-8, but this proved far too many for the host.  Bowling unchanged in an innings that lasted under 12 overs Jordan Swann, (4-13), and Jay Riley, (5-19), simply routed the opposition who manged only 34, leaving Mottram victors by 92 runs.

Droylsden got off the mark for the season in a home game against Denton.  In a rain interrupted first innings the Oakfield side were hugely impressive reaching 211 without loss in 27 overs, as Sai Kumar posted a marvellous 134*, (with over 100 of those coming in boundaries).  He received great support from Mike Schofield, (73*).  The vagaries of the DLS calculation set Denton a target of 245 – a more than challenging target of nine an over.  After reaching 55-3 there was a total collapse, with seven wickets falling for eight runs as Schofield made it a great day personally, ending up with 5-24.

Dukinfield entertained Austerlands and in a rain interrupted knock the visitors reached 90-6.  The DLS calculation left them needing 99 for the win, and when they fell to 27-3 a tight game looked on the cards.  However, an impressive unbroken partnership of 72 from Denuwan Dadellage and Jonny Gascoigne took them home without further loss.

There was half a game at Hadfield before the elements intervened.  Visitors Stretford recovered from 109-7 to add a further 73 in 9 overs to finish on 182-7.  Jonny Tranter, (4-58), impressed with the ball for the home side.  Hadfield did not have the opportunity to start their reply.

SW Manchester 34ao Mottram 126-8; Dukinfield 99-3 Austerlands 90-6; Hadfield v Stretford 182-7 (abandoned after Stretford innings); Droylsden 211-0 Denton 63ao; (Other games abandoned – no play)

Division 2A:  

Irlam 128ao Roe Green 2^nd XI 75ao; Worsley 87-5 beat Hindley SP 89ao (DLS); (Other games abandoned – no play)

Division 2B:

The only local game which went the distance was at North Road where Glossop 2^nd XI overcame Springhead.  The visitors reached 126ao with Matt Kells impressing with the ball finishing with 6-38. A reply which saw Glossop scoring at six and a half runs per over saw them to victory although there was a late alarm as they lost three wickets within sight of the finishing line.  George Dyson top scored with 35.

Play got underway at Rayner Lane with the game reduced to 37 overs a side.  Ashton got off to a flyer reducing visitors Denton West 2^nd XI to 5-4 inside 5 overs.  Siraj Kadodia, who finished with 3-22 was the strike bowler.  Another 13 overs were possible before the rains came, leading to an abandonment, by which time Denton West had recovered to 52-4, Conor Woolley unbeaten on 28*.

Werneth v Littleborough Lakeside 106-2 (abandoned after 22 overs); Glossop 2^nd XI 130-7 Springhead 126ao; Ashton v Denton West 2^nd XI 52-4 (abandoned after 18 overs) (Other games abandoned – no play)

Division 3 East:  Mottram 2^nd XI 148-5 Friarmere 2^nd XI 208-8; (Other games abandoned – no play)

Division 4 East:

The only completed game led to a second win for Ashton Ladysmith as they overcame Droylsden 2^nd XI at Rosehill Road.  The visitors were up against it from the off, and with Kaliq Rehman and Saeed Nazeer taking three wickets each they fell to 30-7.   A slight recovery left them totalling 68.  Ladysmith were chasing a DLS target of 62, which took them 14 overs to reach.

Springhead 2^nd XI 99-6 v Ashton 2^nd XI (abandoned after 28 overs);  Ashton Ladysmith 62-3 beat Droylsden 2^nd XI 68ao (DLS); (Other games abandoned – no play)

Championship T20 Competition:  Friday 14^th May:

The T20 competition got underway on Friday evening, with six local teams in action.  In a high scoring game at Newshaw Lane Mottram got the better of the hosts Hadfield.  Mottram got off to a quick start rattling up 64 inside eight overs.  Andrew Metcalfe, (41) and Ryan Fitton, (who batted throughout the innings for an unbeaten 51*) provided the basis for a hard hitting 38, (off 22 balls), form Liam Tongue to help Mottram to 159-4 thus setting Hadfield eight an over for the win.  The reply was initially identical to the first innings, as Hadfield reached 64 inside eight overs. Richard Tranter got 44 but his dismissal led to a slowdown of the run rate with only 45 added in the next nine overs as wickets fell regularly. It left Hadfield needing 40 off 15 balls, but they ended 18 short of the win.

At Rayner Lane, Ashton got off to a great start reaching 60 inside six overs with 8 wickets remaining against visitors Denton.  It rather subsided after that with the home team dismissed for 130 with nearly three overs left.  Brad Wilshaw-Phillips top scored with 26, and Shahzaib Mazhar picked up 3-25 for Denton.  In the Egerton Street team’s reply only Sean Miller, (28), offered much resistance as new skipper Danny Hawthorne, Ahasan Shazad and Aaron Hurd, (stepping up from the 2^nd team), picked up three wickets each.  Ashton ended up winning by 34 runs.

Over at Dukinfield the home side reached 130-8 against visiting Stayley. Five batsmen reached double figures, with Denuwan Dadellage top scoring with 30. Stayley were never in the hunt after falling to 32-5, and eventually limped to 87-9 and defeat by 49 runs.  Oliver Davy-Day was the chief destroyer early on, ending up with 3-14.

Local games: Ashton 130ao Denton 96ao; Dukinfield 136-8 Stayley 87-9; Hadfield 140-7 Mottram 159-4

***

This weekend’s fixtures

Premier 1: Greenfield v Roe Green; Egerton v Clifton; Heyside v Astley & Tyldesley; Moorside v Woodbank; Prestwich v Denton SL; Glodwick v Flixton

Premier 2: Monton v Walshaw; Bradshaw v Royton; Glossop v Bury; Denton West v Stand; Flowery Field v Edgworth; Heywood v Woodhouses

Championship: Winton v Stayley; Uppermill v Swinton Moorside; Elton v Friarmere; Edenfield v Whalley Range; Shaw v Westleigh; Heaton v Brooksbottom

Division 1: Droylsden v Oldham; Golborne v Hadfield SA; Mottram v Prestwich 2^nd XI; SW Manchester v Thornham; Denton v Austerlands; Stretford v Dukinfield; Milnrow v Adlington

Division 2A:  Roe Green 2^nd XI v Worsley; Stand 2^nd XI v Irlam; Deane & Derby v Tottington SJ; Daisy Hill v East Lancs PM; Hindley SP v Elton 2^nd XI.

Division 2B: Micklehurst v Werneth; Whalley Range 2^nd XI; Saddleworth v Wythenshawe; Denton SL 2^ndXI v Ashton; Springhead v Denton West 2^nd XI; Littleborough Lakeside v Glossop 2^nd XI

Division 3 East:  Werneth 2^nd XI v Greenfield 2^nd XI; Oldham 2^nd XI v Heywood 2^nd XI; Hadfield SA 2^nd XI v Flowery Field 2^nd XI; Newton Heath v Friends United; Friarmere 2^nd XI v Moorside 2^nd XI; Dukinfield 2^ndXI v Mottram 2^nd XI

Division 4 East: Stayley 2^nd XI v Droylsden 2^nd XI; Ashton 2^nd XI v Denton 2^nd XI; Woodhouses 2^nd XI v Springhead 2^nd XI; Failsworth Macedonia v Blackley; Ashton Ladysmith v Saddleworth 2^nd XI

Friday (6.00pm).  T20 (Local games)

Premier: Flowery Field v Denton West; Glossop v Denton SL

Championship: Ashton v Dukinfield; Mottram v Micklehurst; Stayley v Hadfield