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After the incredible performance of the previous week, the fun continued last Thursday at the Mount with the visit to the club of the infamous, original Australian pantomime villain Merv Hughes.

We had a few of our own villains turn out in an Over-50s Legends match and there were most likely a few aches and pains the next day but a good time was had by all.
On to T20 away to Norden on Friday who are a daunting opponent packed with talent. We were unfortunately without Tom Heaton Cal Hunter and Sam Greenhalgh for this one, but Sam Woolley stepped up for his senior debut and second team skipper Ollie Dixon came in to support the bowling attack.

The game was watched by an enthusiastic crowd in the bar via a live stream and a packed crowd witnessed an amazing match and yet another mind blowing performance from professional Jacques Snyman (pictured right).

The match began with a hint of special things to come when Max Birtwistle removed the dangerous Tolley in the first over.

However, Ashar Zaidi is an equally dangerous customer and he plundered an excellent 91, the main contribution of a challenging 206 total.

Oh hang on – the target is now 245 amid gasps from the bar, how does that work? Did an invisible batter make 39 nobody noticed in the excitement?

No, the Mount were punished for a slow over rate and the calculation presented a daunting target.

However, nobody told Evan Williams it was challenging as he set the tone with Jacques, smoking 30 from 19 before falling to Sami Waheed.

We then lost Dan Stevens and Travis Townsend in quick succession but Andy Kerr was in the mood from the word go and played a brilliant hand in supporting Jacques with a fine 32 from just 21 balls.

Meanwhile – devastating, brutal , sheer power was on show at the other end as Jacques smote the Norden bowling to all parts of Stag Park .

An incredible 13 sixes and 13 fours saw him amass 164 not out from 70 balls and close the game out with four balls to spare.

Top of the league, three wins from three with two to play, a quarter-final place in sight for the first time. What a performance, no superlatives can capture how brilliant was this knock. Let’s continue to enjoy it!

On Saturday, a slightly more sedate pace in searing heat saw the third eleven, with the return of Captain Crowther,  also capture the top of the table spot with a win over high-flying Nelson.

Fielding first, the tone was set by a fine delivery from Noah Birtwistle to bowl their opener first ball. Wickets fell steadily including a wonderful running catch from Wes Young (fee payable for additional superlatives but there was no dive involved!), fine bowling all round with Noah and Adam Clarke collecting three wickets apiece, Sam Woolley pitched in with two, and there was one apiece for Rupert Hallows and Ed Dickinson.
Highlight of the Greenmount reply was a fine 52 not out from Rupert Hallows who responded brilliantly to a slightly over-zealous opponent by letting the bat speak for him!

There was an excellent contribution from Tom Clarke with 23 not out which saw us comfortably home by eight wickets after Ed Dickinson (24), and Wes Young (13), also chipped in. The table-topping thirds will be at home again this week to Lowerhouse.

Sunday’s matches returned to the vagaries of weather and Duckworth Lewis as flash storms interrupted the glorious weather with the ground turning quickly to a lake just long enough for second team opponents Todmorden to say “no chance“, shake hands and head for the hills from what was most likely a winning position – only for the ground to be clear and dry within an hour!

Greenmount had been bowled out for a disappointing 152, the highlight being a return to the crease for Kieran Edwards, following his release from the bathroom, with a fine 43.

Ed Wackrill joined Kie for a very fine support performance of 24 including a lovely six over cover from a free hit.

Meanwhile, at Bacup, the first team delivered their best bowling and fielding performance of the season to skittle the opposition for just 93.

There were two wickets apiece for Evan, Cal and Jack Thomond while Jacques took 4-14 from five overs.

Travis took the gloves in Tom’s absence and poached two catches and a stumping.

Our reply was suitably clinical with 54-0 from just nine overs before rain arrived in buckets with Evan not out with a belligerent 36 and Jacques 16.

Following the usual confusion about a recalibration of targets, once the rain cleared we went out to complete the win and bring 12 points home.

We are now still in sixth place but there’s only nine points separating six teams so the last three weeks has seen consecutive wins eat away at the gap and bring us right into the challenging pack.

Including the T20 it’s now six from six in this mid-season mini campaign and we now move on to this week’s opponents Bacup once again on Friday before we entertain Nelson on Sunday.

Thanks again to all our supporters, keep behind the team and enjoy the ride!

The weekend of 2nd to 4th June, 2023, will be long remembered at the Mount following a scintillating display of savage batting from professional Jacques Snyman.

There aren’t any superlatives or cliches that haven’t already been used but the phrase ‘remember the name’ must surely ensure Jacques a place in Greenmount CC folklore alongside many previous famous faces to have graced the Log Cabin.

The weekend started with a sunny Friday evening T20 against Walsden – chasing a modest 101 (three wickets for Tom Heaton) it was clear that Tom and Jacques had agreed a ‘no run’ approach to the reply as the total was knocked off in just five overs. Tom struck 39 from just 16 balls and Jacques bludgeoned 54 from 18 with seven sixes.

Two wins from two in this years’ T20 competition and a stiff challenge to come at Norden this Friday. Save the date in the diary for Friday, 23rd June when Ramsbottom provide the opposition!

On Sunday we saw the visit of Accrington and following the record-breaking day against Great Harwood last week there was much anticipation at the toss – which Travis duly won and surprisingly (irony) chose to bat!

Despite losing Evan Williams and Andy Kerr early on, Jacques, accompanied once again by Tom, set about the bowling in much the same fashion as last week.

Tom Heaton was eventually caught for 80 with five sixes and eight fours to end an entertaining stand of 145 but then Travis was adjudged LBW to his first ball which brought Dan Stevens to the wicket.

Jacques continued to build momentum through the middle overs and Dan chipped in with four fours and was looking set for a big score before chopping on for a good 31.

We then lost three quick wickets and were in danger of being bowled out with overs to spare until Jacques was joined by Sammy Greenhalgh who watchfully helped build a record partnership for the ninth wicket of 133 which has stood since 1937 apparently!

By this time Jacques was unfurling his full repertoire and the individual league record score was blown away along with about eight lost balls. For the record the amazing score of 269 not out included 28 fours and a staggering 15 sixes from just 139 balls.

It is hard to imagine this achievement will ever be broken and it must surely go down as an all time great knock if not the greatest ever seen at the Mount in our extensive history.

Accrington responded with a creditable 231 with the key goal for Greenmount to bowl them out and earn the full 12 points, something we did not achieve last week.

Jacques Snyman had the most fantastic day in the sun, taking 4-34 to add to his stellar batting exploits. Callum Hunter took 3-67, Travis Townsend 2-31 and Tom Heaton 1-47. Another win which sees the Mount slowly edging up the rankings to sixth in the table after eight games.

Meanwhile Saturday`s FA Cup final provided a noisy backdrop to the third team match with Colne at home which also saw another fantastic individual performance alongside a very positive all round team effort.

Greenmount batted first, compiling a steady 203-5 with Ed Dickinson once again impressing with a fine 62, Wes Young, 33, (runs not age…)  continued his entertaining spree of swashbuckling innovation (use of the edge being especially inventive) and there were useful contributions from Rupert Hallows( 26) and Max Birtwistle ( 24).  

Nobody quite expected a decent looking Colne side to be skittled for 80, however they were blown away by a superb spell of controlled swing bowling from 15-year-old Max Birtwistle.

Max took 6-19 from six overs, five all bowled and including a hat-trick all bowled – simply an excellent example of how to bowl at the stumps and well deserved reward for lots of hard work.

Ed Dickinson also chipped in with 3-11 and there was a wicket for Sam Woolley to wrap up an early win and round off a good team effort as the team move up to third place!

The second have had a rough season to date – availability has prevented a consistent team however there was a higher expectation with a strong-looking team with more experience this week.

And so it proved to be as we emerged victorious for only the second time this season and to complete an amazing weekend of success on the field for the Mount.

Unfortunately for unknown reasons the game has not yet been uploaded to Play Cricket (one of my pet hates) but there were once again some great individual performances within the team.

Nigel Franklin hit an unbeaten 79 and Jack Thomond scored his maiden Greenmount 50 before once again Max Birtwistle was the man of the moment, roaring in to complete a second five wicket haul for the weekend.

Younger brother Noah chipped in with three wickets too to complete a good win for Ollie Dixon’s lads.

Overall, the most memorable of weekends, four wins from four, thanks to everyone who contributed on and off the field for the best club weekend of the summer so far.

Mount Momentum! More next week…

We are looking forward to welcoming the Shaun Brown Cricket Coaching Academy from Australia on Thursday.

There are two matches to enjoy, starting at 1pm with a Greenmount Invitation XI captained by Evan Williams ahead of  an Over 50’s match featuring the Greenmount Legends eleven captained by Ian Senior.  

Please note admission to the ground for these matches is FREE. There will be a raffle and Chris will be serving from his tasty menu all day.

In the evening, after the action, Aussie cricketing legend Merv Hughes will be taking centre stage at 8pm to share anecdotes about his illustrious test career. This part of the day is admission via ticket only, £20 per ticket, still some remaining so hurry and place your order today.

Merv will also be conducting an auction which will include signed bats however there is also an additional outstanding item which may be of interest.  

Courtesy of Wes Young and AGM Services we have two tickets for Liverpool FC Premier League Match Day hospitality in the Beautiful Game Lounge in the Anfield main stand.

 This is a truly magnificent experience and includes :

– Elevated views of the pitch with walk through access to your seat for a Premier League home match in September or October (fixture schedule to be confirmed when released on 15th June)

– Exceptional 4 course match day menu

– Welcome drink on arrival

– Match day complimentary beer, wine and soft drinks

– tea, coffee and lite bites at half time

– visit from former Liverpool FC player

– Complimentary match day programme

– Match day gift

– One car park pass for Stanley Road car park

A lower level hospitality package excluding complimentary food and drink in the Anfield Beat lounge cost £495 per person for the recent Villa match.

If anyone wishes to place a ‘blind bid’ ahead of the auction for this amazing prize please reply to helen@peterbowker.com with your offer.

We look forward to seeing as many members as possible on Thursday, remember it is free to watch the cricket and create a welcoming atmosphere which will be appreciated by all the touring players and indeed our own!

Half-term week and a high level of activity for junior representative matches saw a number of our boys involved – either in county age group or inter league fixtures.

Max Birtwistle represented the county Under-15s while brother Noah and Ed Wackrill played for the county Under-13s.

Both Ed Dickinson and Tom Clarke played for the Lancashire junior league Under-15s while Harry Nuttall represented the Under-12s.

But performance of the week goes to Ben Clarke representing the Lancashire junior league Under-13s where he scored 101 against the GMCL West to become the second Greenmount young centurion of the summer.

Following his excellent cup hat trick against Rishton it’s been a stellar season so far for Ben!

Congratulations from all at the Mount and here’s to many more!!

Three Lancashire League records were put to the sword at the Log Cabin on Sunday when Mount saw off a spirited Great Harwood side in an amazing high-scoring encounter.

Following on from the T20 party atmosphere on Friday night, we were in optimistic mood as Travis won the toss and chose to bat on the same very true pitch.

What followed was an explosion of brilliant batting – Evan Williams continued his excellent form from Friday with a series of well executed strokes and blazed his way to an impressive run-a-ball 67 with a six and nine fours before surprisingly being stumped with the score on 149.

However, this merely served to unleash the best of South African professional Jacques Snyman. Opening the batting, he played himself in nicely with a few well-timed shots offering a glimpse of the onslaught to follow.

But once Evan departed he cut loose with a succession of brutal shots to reach his maiden century for the Mount.

But this was just the curtain-raiser as he then savaged the bowling attack with an array of exhilarating blows out of the ground, racing to 158 before holing out.

A stunning performance with fifteen fours and ten brutal sixes, this was entertainment at its finest and underlined the power of Jacques’ batting which the home crowd experienced for the first time.

With Jacques out at 280-2 there was license for the middle order to continue with freedom, resulting in fine knocks from Andy Kerr (41), Travis Townsend a breezy 45 from just 27 balls and an excellent 52 from Tom Heaton from just 37 balls.

We finished with a staggering Lancashire League record team total of 429-6 from the 50 overs. Par score had been suggested as around 285!!

There was a strange feel to the Great Harwood response, surely this was a foregone conclusion! However massive credit to our opponents, they kept coming and managed to reply with a superb total of 346 -8 (a record losing score in the Lancashire League) giving Greenmount a much needed win but only 10 points.

There was some disappointing bowling and fielding which will have frustrated home support but the pitch was the overall winner with an astonishing match aggregate total of 775 runs that is now in the Lancashire League record books.

Callum Hunter took 3-82 and Travis Townsend 3-51 to round off the win.

All in all an excellent weekend of cricket at the Mount with back to back wins, defeat of a division 1 opponent in T20, centuries for Evan and Jacques all supported by strong team batting performances.

With the forecast looking dry for the week ahead let’s try and build momentum after the stuttering start and we look forward to an exciting weekend next week with more T20 on Friday versus Walsden and league action on Sunday versus Accrington.

Now that the summer has arrived with much warmer weather we are looking forward to welcoming the Shaun Brown Cricket Academy Team from Australia on Thursday, 8th June.

Following the day’s action of two T20 matches we are delighted to have ex-Australian test star Merv Hughes spend some time with us to share his recollections of a sparkling career in our beloved game.

Merv was of course a colourful character on the field and we understand that his talks are lively, entertaining and inevitably humorous.

There will also be an auction for the chance to win some fabulous exclusive prizes. Tickets are selling quickly so we would recommend fast response to ensure you have a seat.

Price is just £20 and you can reserve by quickly replying to helen@peterbowker.plus.com

All the ingredients were there for a top evening – warm sunshine, strong vocal presence on the balcony, Greenmount Grill, good crowd and oops no music or PA due to a technical hitch!

And so it proved to be with a sparkling performance from Greenmount as they swept aside Division One opposition in the first Friday T20 of the summer.

Batting first on a beautiful looking pitch, the Mount attacked from the first ball but lost early wickets in Tom Heaton and pro Jacques Snyman.

However, Evan Williams then proceeded to play arguably the best knock seen on this ground for some years and certainly his best individual performance in first team cricket.

Dominating from the start Evan smashed boundaries at will, with a stunning eight sixes and eleven fours, all-comers being dispatched to all corners of the ground with a blend of power and disdain.

Ev was ably supported by skipper Travis Townsend who played his best knock of the season too as the pair dismantled the Todmorden attack.

Travis struck 65 from just 30 balls with five sixes, Evans 121 from 56 balls, both achieving the same strike rate of 216!

The fun and momentum was maintained by cameos from Andy Kerr with 23 from only 11 balls and an unbeaten 16 from Dan Stevens from eight balls to wrap the innings up at a monumental 268-6.

More than we scored in 50 overs against East Lancs!

The Todmorden reply needed to be aggressive and despite valiant efforts from Will Bosisto and Harry Rickard, it was always going to be an uphill task.

Professional Jacques Snyman turned in a five-wicket haul with 5-20 and there were three excellent catches from Sammy Greenhalgh, two of which were truly outstanding and spectacular.

There was time for Max Birtwistle to bag his first senior wicket while there were two wickets for Matt Senior, one for Jack Thomond and one for Evan.

A fantastic team performance highlighted by an outstanding individual performance from Evan but great to see the Mount rocking again on a Friday night. Thanks to everyone who came along to offer loud support, the team really appreciate the positive support and energy from the crowd.

Tomorrow (Sunday) it’s Great Harwood at home – great weather, bank holiday weekend, let’s see you all out in force again. Bring it on!

Greenmount’s junior cup run came to an end in defeat for the Under-15s last night (Thursday) against an excellent, well-organised Clitheroe team.

In a low-scoring tense match befitting a final, we competed evenly throughout the contest but were just short in a few key duels which tipped the balance to the very worthy opponents.

Batting first, the Mount lads lost the recently prolific Ed Dickinson but an absorbing partnership between Max Birtwistle and Rupert Hallows steadied the ship and changed momentum.

It was a shame when Rupert was caught for a fine 33 and not long afterwards Max retired for an excellent 50 with two fine sixes and four fours.

Unfortunately the last four overs of the innings stuttered and just never regathered any impetus, leaving a feeling that we may have been 10-15 runs short.

Indeed the Clitheroe fielding was excellent throughout and saved many additional runs with a combination of good placement and athletic saves.

The Greenmount bowling in the first ten overs had the scores tracking almost spot on like-for-like but gradually the Clitheroe batting – led by the excellent Coby Campbell – asserted its authority and pressure.

We didn’t field with the same consistent disciplines as our opponents and therefore crucial runs were leaked which of course is fatal in low scoring situations.

And so Clitheroe were worthy winners and we wish them every fortune and success for the broader knock out tournament – they brought a great support and played in an excellent spirit, credit to their club.

For Greenmount, it’s a few years now since there’s been a junior game night with such passion and competitiveness, and it’s a welcome return to those days!

With such a young team we’d expect to see more of these over the coming years but the key next step is to take on the learnings and move forward with positivity and fight to top the league rankings in the Under-13s and Under-15s.

Thanks to all the supporters who turned out tonight especially the senior players, and of course to all the coaches and managers who work with these lads daily and weekly – let’s keep up the positive momentum.

T20 next at the Log Cabin when Todmorden are the visitors tonight (Friday).

Big congratulations go to Rupert Hallows who today compiled his maiden century for Lancashire Under-12s against Durham.

Rupert’s achievement is just reward for hours of practice and hard work.

Let’s hope there’s many more to come!

Following the announcement of two T20 matches on 8th June against the Shaun Brown Cricket Coaching Academy touring team led by the legendary Merv Hughes, we are pleased to provide an update on a special evening event following the cricket.

Tickets are strictly limited so please order by reply to this email: helen@peterbowker.plus.com once your seat is confirmed we will let you know how and when to pay and collect from the bar. Payment will be cash only please.   

There will be further details to follow in the coming days on some exciting exclusive auction prizes to whet your appetite for what should be a great day of cricket.