Thornham suffer opening day defeat

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Thornham suffered defeat to Flowery Field in the first game of the Lancashire County League season. Following extensive work in the past weeks by several members of the club the ground was fit to play after the work on the drains over the winter months.

Thornham batted first and were bowled out for 104. Steve Grey top scored with 32 and Matt Harrop contributed with some useful runs on his return. Damian Eyre of Flowery Field finished with bowling figures of 5-32. 104 was always going to be a tough ask to defend and Flowery Field successfully chased the total with the loss of 3 wickets.

In the corresponding Second XI fixture, Thornham were defeated in a close encounter. Junior players Matt Micklethwaite and Chris Heywood both passed 50 and batted maturely as they set Flowery Field a very respectable 215 to win. Thornham took wickets early but some powerful batting from the Flowery Field middle order saw them home by two wickets, Paddy McMahon finishing with figures of 5-69 for Thornham.

The Third XI won comfortably on Saturday at Westhaughton, aided by a brutal 172 not out from Danny Scott. Westhaughton never got close and finished with 160 for 8. Sunday’s game with Rochdale Catholic Club started but fell foul of the weather.

The Junior Training nights have started again at the club on a Wednesday night. Anyone aged 9 or over that fancies playing for a new club or starting the sport for the first time is welcome to turn up at 6.30. More information on the juniors and further match reports can be found by visiting www.thornhamcricket.co.uk  

Teams for Weekend:

Thornham 1st XI – v Roe Green (A) Meet 11.45am: S Grey, A McClure, T Grey, M Harrop, Z Iqbal, R Jackson, A Micklethwaite, M Micklethwaite, A Qadoos, M Sagar, J Willman.

Thornham 2nd XI – v Roe Green (H) Meet 12.00pm: I Heywood, J Burke, D Grant, C Heywood, A Wild, Z Khan, G Walsh, M Tayyab, M Mansfield, P McMahon, T Smith.

Thornham 3rd XI – v Swinton Moorside (A) Meet 12.00pm: J Clarke, J Asghar, M Bashir, A Hussain, B Mohammed, M Ul Hasan, L Tomlinson, I Howarth, T walsh, A Clarkson, D Yates.