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Weekend Review: Greater Manchester Cricket League

The GMCL season ended with the final honour going to Stretford as they came from behind to overtake Dukinfield and win Division 1 by the smallest of margins – a single point.

The two clubs will move into the Championship in 2022 and will be joined by Mottram.  Droylsden preserved their Division 1 status with a win over Adlington, and a division lower Ashton finished the season with defeat at the hands of Glodwick

Division 1:

With the three promotion places being settled seven days previously, Saturday’s action centred around the destination of the winners trophy. Dukinfield went into their game at Hadfield knowing that a bonus point win would be enough to head off Mottram and Stretford. Missing out on a bonus point, however, would open the door for Stretford.  Mottram’s hopes depended on both Dukinfield and Stretford losing.

The issue was opened up fairly early on, as Stretford entertained Denton and saw them off in a game which finished early enough for the spectators to make the kick off at local football matches.  Denton had no answer to Ryan Williams who took 7-30 as the Egerton Street side were dismissed for 57 inside 15 overs.  Stretford wasted no time in the reply. Racing home in 10 overs without losing a wicket, the home team gave themselves a great chance of capturing the silverware, and in doing so meant that Mottram could not now win the Division.

Dukinfield knew that a bonus point win was now vital, as they held the advantage in terms of games won should the points totals be equal.  Not securing the additional point would give the title to Stretford by a single point. Up at Hadfield the home side toiled to a total of  127-6 in 50 overs, (Jonny Tranter 36 top scoring).  The equation was simple – Dukinfield needed to win, but to lose no more than 3 wickets.  Things were going well as they reached 97-2, before the departure of Denuwan Dadellage.  31 were needed, with 30 overs left, all that was needed was to not lose another wicket.  Syd da Silva led the way, (finishing with 57*), but with six required the run out of Neil Mistry meant that Dukinfield could not get the bonus point and so Stretford became champions.

Mottram ended the season with promotion after a win over Golborne. Stefan Fielding played the leading role, finishing with 73* as Mottram totalled 226-9.  Golborne fell to 121-7 in reply, as Oliver Andrew took 5-60. Andrew finished the season with 41 wickets and over 500 runs, a fine all-round performance. Golborne rallied late on in their innings and finished on 191ao, 36 runs short of the win.

Down at the other end of the table, with Denton already relegated, Droylsden entertained Adlington knowing that a win would confirm Division 1 status for them in 2022.  And they made short order of the visitors, dismissing them for 115, (Tharsan Thayalan 4-39).  Droylsden wasted no time in their reply.  Scoring at 10 runs an over they won by 7 wickets, as Matt Halliday, (51*), took his season’s tally to 718 runs.

Oldham 147ao Thornham 141ao; Prestwich 2nd XI 134-9 Austerlands 133ao; Hadfield SA 127-6 Dukinfield 133-4; Milnrow 201ao SW Manchester 287-4; Stretford 63-0 Denton 57ao; Droylsden 117-3 Adlington 115ao; Mottram 226-9 Golborne 191ao

 

Division 2B:

Ashton signed off a disappointing campaign with a home loss to Glodwick, who totalled 173ao, (Ahasan Shahzad 3-36).  Having scored heavily in recent weeks the odds were on an Ashton win, but nobody got going and they subsided to a 48 run defeat.

Ashton 125ao Glodwick 2nd XI 173ao

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