Saturday’s Worsley Cup first round fixtures pitted Greenmount against Norden, the first team travelling the short distance to Stag Park.
Unfortunately – and very much in line with this summer so far – the weather had the final say as the match was abandoned without a ball bowled and will now be played next Saturday (11th May).
This left the second team to take centre stage and they thrilled the home crowd with an excellent display which took their opponents from a higher division right to the wire.
In a high-scoring entertaining watch, the aggregate scores almost reached 600, belying the pre-season wet conditions.
The highlight was a stand of 186 from new boy 17-year-old Toby Leach and the more experienced campaigner Kieran Edwards, entertaining the crowd with an array of boundaries including 9 sixes and 17 fours.
Toby reached an excellent maiden senior century and Kie unfortunately missed out by just two runs for an equally excellent 98.
After a nice cameo from Noah Birtwistle who continued his fine early season form with an unbeaten 20 from 10 balls, the innings closed on 298 from 48 overs.
Norden set about the chase – reduced slightly by DLS – with immediate intent. There were excellent contributions from Nick Brierley (78) and Haris Hussain (48) but Ross Collin’s unbeaten 44 from 32 balls saw them narrowly over the line.
Once again our second team bowling attack carried a very youthful air with most of the front line bowlers under the age of 18, pitting their skills against experienced senior players.
It can only be good for their development and experience as they are learning fast. Brothers Max and Noah Birtwistle took two wickets apiece and Ed Dickinson the other as Norden reached their target with five wickets remaining.
Watch out for our second team this summer, there are some good stories starting to build with our young players – we will have some good and bad days but overall the signs are that its already a big improvement on last year, rumour has it that Oli Dixon has been seen smiling after games!
On to Sunday and the second round of league matches this time against Walsden.
The first team made the away trip but having lost the toss experienced a torrid innings, being tumbled out for 109 in just 28 overs on a sporting wicket.
Fortunately Callum Hunter ensured that we reached three figures with a battling 35 not out, receiving valuable support from Kieran Edwards and Danny Hornby.
However the Mount then proceeded to do what we didn’`’t last year – win ugly!
Walsden were bowled out for just 53 in 20 overs with Jacques Snyman taking 4 for 18 from ten overs and new man Amal Dalugoda weaving his magic with 5 for 19 from eight overs, a fantastic performance from both spinners and a very positive result against a quality team who will surely be challenging for promotion.
League positions after two matches are fairly meaningless however the important point is that we have won two from two and in each game different players have delivered the impact to change the fortune of the match.
Oli Dixon’s winning smile returned once again with a routine win over Walsden seconds. Walsden simply had no answer to a fantastic spell of controlled swing and seam bowling as Oli took 6 for 45 from 12 overs, ably supported again by Noah Birtwistle with 3 for 16 from 12 overs to continue his great start to the season.
Here’s an example of a young player taking his chance having been asked to open the bowling last week and it’s excellent to see young players taking on the challenge and impacting the game with performance.
Low scoring matches can often raise the blood pressure but a calm unbeaten 21 from Sammy Greenhalgh ensured the win comfortably by seven wickets. Two wins from two for our twos!
It’s a positive start to the season all round, lets keep the momentum up next week!
WALSDEN v GREENMOUNT SCORECARD