Thornham fall short in run chase

Mike Sagar, Thornham Cricket Club

The rain forecast for Saturday never arrived as Thornham travelled to Roe Green. Batting first on a green wicket, Roe Green made a slow start to their innings, held back by some very tight bowling from Thornham openers Tom Grey and Zaf Iqbal. Grey and Iqbal finished their first spells with a wicket apiece as Thornham continued to bowl and field well.

Paddy McMahon and Matthew Micklethwaite replaced the two opening bowlers and continued to put pressure on the Roe Green batsmen. They too took a wicket each, including a smart catch from Andy Micklethwaite but Roe Green had enough wickets to make a late surge in the final 20 overs. Hard fought half-centuries from Williams and Budgen meant that Thornham were set 205 for victory.

Thornham’s chase began badly with Matthew Harrop dismissed with the second ball of the innings. The top order struggled to get going and, with the exception of Steve Grey (29), none of the top 5 made double figures. Thornham looked to be on the wrong end of a thrashing at 80 for 7 but Tom Grey and Mike Sagar batted superbly together.

Sagar  finished on 41 and Grey on 37 as they put on 68 for the 8th wicket. Roe Green were beginning to look over their shoulders and reintroduced their opening bowlers, who struck back to finish the brave stand. The pair of them batted maturely and sensibly, a sign of a promising season for the two. Iqbal was the last man dismissed as Thornham finished on 166 all out.

At Thornham the Second Eleven won a closely fought game. Batting first Thornham finished on 169 for 8. Chris Heywood continued his fine start to the season with 45. Tom Smith chipped in with a quick 27. Roe Green fought hard in unpleasant conditions and ended up just 3 runs short. Amjad Hussain, making his Second XI debut finished with impressive figures of 5-63.

On Sunday the Third Eleven secured an impressive victory away at Swinton Moorside in the North Manchester League. The home side batted first and finished on 208 all out, Hussain the pick of the bowlers again with 5-57. Thornham successfully chased down their target thanks to a well constructed 68 from Ul-Hasan and 37 from Tim Walsh. Dave Yates hit the winning runs to conclude his effective 15 not out.

Next weekend sees the first double header for the First and Second Eleven - with the 1st’s at home to Woodhouses on Saturday before travelling to Stand on Sunday.

This weekend’s teams:
1st XI v Woodhouses (H) Sat 8th, meet 12noon - S Grey (c), A McClure, T Grey, M Hampson, M Harrop, Z Iqbal, P McMahon, A Micklethwaite, M Micklethwaite,M Sagar, J Willman.

For Sunday v Stand (A) meet 11.45am - G Walsh & D Yates replace M Harrop & P McMahon.

2nd XI v Woodhouses (A) Sat 8th meet 11.45am - I Heywood (c), J Burke, D Grant, C Heywood, A Hussain, A Qadoos, A Sabir, T Smith, M Tayyab, G Walsh, D Yates.
For Sunday v Stand (H) meet 12noon - M Mansfield, M Ul-Hasan, C McGrath, A Wild & P McMahon replace J Burke, M Tayyab, G Walsh, D Yates and I Heywood.