A Bank Holiday double header offered an appetising weekend of cricket following the cancellation of most of the T20 first round of matches writes John Stevens.
The First team finished the weekend with a place in the quarter finals and a league leaders position after five matches as we close out May.
After yet another week of monsoon-like weather it was no shock to hear that our defence of the T20 cup would be starting a week late.
And so we moved on to Saturday away at a rather damp and not exactly tropical Crompton for the Worsley Cup second round.
Asked to bat first on a challenging pitch, Greenmount posted a respectable 236 for 8. Professional Jacques Snyman made light of the conditions with 79 from 68 balls to continue his fine form from Nelson, before falling to an excellent catch (it’s okay Kie, not as good as yours!).
Skipper Travis Townsend continued his imperious start to the season with another impressive performance finishing not out 95 but surely once again deserving of a century. He was well supported by Kieran Edwards with 32.
The Crompton reply started very positively and they soon reached 85 for the loss of just one wicket. Travis was able to deploy a full range of bowlers and it was Jack Thomond who struck to remove the dangerous duo of Fazal and Jamal.
Jack was ably supported by the spin of Tom Heaton and the pair restricted the middle overs scoring whilst picking up wickets regularly. Jack finished with club best figures of 4 for 31 and Tom 2 for 36.
Amal Dalugoda chipped in with 2 for 28 and Jacques Snyman 2 for 30, Callum Hunter grabbing five catches!
Unfortunately we suffered another injury to keeper Jack Hallows who has a recurrence of a dislocated thumb. However this was a very good win by 58 runs against a strong opponent who will be fighting for promotion – and a first ever quarter final tie – draw to be made on Wednesday.
Post script – The scorecard will show that Crompton’s Ali was caught by Kieran Edwards – for readers who were not there please try to imagine a cross between a diving Jonty Rhodes and a swooping eagle to pull off an amazing effort (come on Kie you’ve got to say that’s a good mention, a Guinness should cover it).
On Sunday it was back to normal with rubbish weather and all that goes with it. Messing around with covers, pitch and ground inspections, weather apps and DLS with its customary confusion.
Throw in a bit of thunder and lightning too, not the ideal spectator sport. But Travis won the toss and the team responded by bowling out Great Harwood for 100.
Once again Jack Thomond was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 21, Callum Hunter also weighed in with 2 for 31 and there were two wickets apiece for spin twins Amal and Jacques, with Danny Hornby taking the remaining scalp.
With rain looming all around and rumbling thunder, the Greenmount reply was laced with lightning strikes as Tom Heaton and Jacques Snyman blazed their way to 74 in just five overs.
Clearly warming up for T20 action, Tom blasted 39 and Jacques 22 before a big flash of lightning took the teams off. When play was fit to resume some 45 minutes later, Greenmount had already exceeded the DLS target and after one ball sealed the win and an important 12 points to go top of the league.
The youthful second team were bouncing back nicely at Middleton where the opposition were 100 for 7 before rain ended proceedings. Ed Dickinson bagged four wickets and Ben Clarke picked up two.
This week sees the start of T20 with the Mount entertaining Norden this Friday. Watch out for team updates on Facebook and also for the Worsley Cup quarter-final draw on Wednesday!