Fieldhouse youngsters lose out in cup final

Bamford Fieldhouse's Under 13s side came up just short against league champions Saddleworth 'A' in their rescheduled cup final.

Saddleworth won by three wickets with just one over to spare. Bamford were left to rue a below par batting performance after an excellent fielding performance was not quite enough to see them through to victory.

Fieldhouse were put in to bat and made a steady start with Joe Smith-Butler and Abbu Alam batting with care against some accurate seam bowling from Farakh Sanghir and Boyle.

The first wicket fell in the ninth over with the score at 41, when Alam (14) holed out to mid-wicket.

Smith-Butler carried on his steady accumulation as the wickets began to fall and from 54 for 3 Bamford found themselves reduced to 58 for 6.

When Smith-Butler retired on 31, James Salt and Callum Belfield showed some stout resistance but good bowling and fielding stopped them from increasing the run rate at the bottom of the innings.

Bamford ended with 70 for 8 which always looked at least 10 to 15 runs short of a good total.

Bamford knew they had to make a good start in the field and paceman Ahmed Nawaz gave them just that, picking up the wicket of League representative Ellis Heliere for a duck in his first over. He followed this up with two maidens and was well supported by Smith-Butler who also picked up a wicket thanks to a superb overhead catch by Matthew Buckley.

After both opening bowlers had completed their spells, Saddleworth had only made it to 15 for 2 but both batsmen, Gee and Hardy, looked well set. With their confidence rising they had pushed the score along to 36 within 3 overs but the partnership was broken when Belfield bowled Gee for 11, bringing big-hitting John Rhodes to the crease.

Nawaz, with a superb throw, ran out Hardy and Rhodes then took it upon himself to smash the final runs.

Joseph Mitchell did his best to stem the runs with his 4 overs of off spin costing just 9 runs but, with wickets falling around him, Rhodes ended the game with a superb boundary.

Saddleworth were deserved winners as they produced a great performance in the field particularly with their bowling which kept Bamford's score down. Then, when Bamford began to get on top due to their own bowling and fielding, the home side remained calm, played all the bowling on merit, and picked up runs where they could and defended the good balls.

Bamford showed that with a little more application in the batting, they can compete with the better sides as their bowling and fielding is as good as anyone's in the league.

The effort from both sides, particularly in the field was exemplary. The players were throwing themselves about to prevent boundaries and to take catches as if their lives depended upon it. The agony on the face of a dismissed batsmen or a bowler who had been hit for 4 was plain to see so it was great, in a game as important as this, to see what a competitive and sportsmanlike manner it was played.