Greenmount Under-13s crashed out of the Lancashire Junior League cup semi-final at Rochdale on Friday evening, putting paid to their unbeaten start to the season in rather ignominious fashion.
Batting first against two good county age group spinners, the Mount were undone for a paltry 68 of which only Ben Clarke with 30 applied himself to the task.
In truth the batting display was woeful and a long way from the earlier part of the week when the same team hit 200 and 181. Haroon Kashmiri bowled superbly for Rochdale and richly deserved the scalps of three of his county colleagues.
The Greenmount bowling display was equally poor and the game finished with Tom Gilbertson and the excellent Kashmiri knocking off the runs against a series of poor balls for no loss.
It was a very disappointing end to an exciting cup campaign but it must be said Rochdale, who have a very good team, thoroughly deserved to win and demonstrated all the necessary qualities to compete. It’s to be hoped that plenty of valuable lessons were learned individually and collectively.
However, some of these lads get immediate opportunity to bounce back as our Under-15 team will play in the final of their Age Group cup next Thursday, 25th May at home against Clitheroe.
Make it an early start to the weekend and come along to cheer the team on !
With the first team also at home next Friday 26th for the start of the T20 tournament it promises to be an exciting week of cricket at the Mount!