Cricket: Tierney rips Saddleworth apart to help Middleton to victory

James Tierney ripped apart the bowling with 38 off a mere 18 balls as Middleton beat Saddleworth at Well i the Hole.

Midleton arrived at Saddleworth with only ten men and missing Gee, Foden, Tahir and Rutter.

Saddleworth only two years ago were kings of the Saddleworth League doing the treble and despite the departure of the Roberts brothers to Stayley and Shadford to Uppermill they are still to be reckoned with.

Grant Jones was dismissed for a quickfire 13 and captain Walker joined Chris Williams in the middle.

Walker and Willaims set about building a big score in this T20 fixture on a good Saddleworth track.

Walker had hit a couple of sweet fours before the Holt brothers combined to dismiss him.

This brought the in-form Tierney to the wicket fresh from appearing for Lancashire Under 17s. He began as he meant to go on with a pulled six well over mid wicket.

No bowlers were spared punishment be it Assad Ali, Sam Holt or the highly respected professional Imran Aslam.

With three sixes and two fours, Tierney was not hanging around, and coming to the wicket with the score on sixty he and Williams took it to 120 before James was unfortunate to be caught and bowled by Asad Ali for 38.

Williams continued keeping the score ticking over until he was out for 49 and the team were 153-7 off their allotted 20 overs.

Saddleworth didn't get off to a quick start and Tierney added to his great batting with some super bowling. Good line and length and a fair speed he had the Captain Steve Taylor caught by keeper Pete Foden for one.

This was quickly followed by the prize wicket of Imran Aslam, who was clean bowled for a mere six runs.

Brian Lord, who was looking good, was niftily run out by Chris Williams.

The other wickets were taken by Rhys Tierney, Walker and McGuiness.

A good win for Middleton against what is the Saddleworth League's finest team.

The preceding day saw Tierney hit a superb 38 off only 16 balls against Littleborough in an Under 19 game. Adding to the runs were Leighton Le Carpentier, Hussain Shahid and Aaron Eaves.

Littleborough scraped home on the final ball.