With the return of the old hand skipper Andy Heaver, the 3XI faced the division newcomers Saddleworth on a very hot and sticky day. The day started well – we all found the ground after probably the longest away journey of the year.
The ground looked extremely well prepared and in good-condition. The modern pavilion and facilities with a picturesque back drop of the peak district made it a thoroughly enjoyable ground to play cricket.
With the wicket looking favourable for the batsmen and for the first time this year Prestwich won the toss and decided to bat. Leaving Saddleworth to field in the hottest part of the day.
Adam Cheshire and Andy Jones opened up for Prestwich. The third ball of the match saw the somewhat unlucky dismissal of Cheshire, with the ball painfully trickling back onto his stumps to dislodge the bails. This brought Smith to the wicket who struck a few good shots until he was adjudged to have been leg before wicket. With the Saddleworth bowlers finding a good line and length Prestwich suddenly found themselves under pressure as Walsh strolled to the wicket.
Jones and Walsh tried to settle into a rhythm but with the constant interruption of cars, children, pensioners and the odd camper settling by the sight-screen for a ‘better view’ made it hard-going. Both players managed to provide good resistance against the consistent bowling and managed to maintain a good scoring rate.
There was a worrying moment when Jones blatantly edged to 1st slip but luckily the lack of the umpire’s sight and hearing was to benefit the opener, much to the dismay of the opposition. Jones for the first time this year even managed to stay on his feet whilst running between the wickets!
Through some good bowling Walsh unfortunately took a blow to his foot. In anger the next ball was smashed straight back nearly decapitating the bowler. The Exocet splitting hairs on the bowlers head in the process, leaving him with a rather worried look on his face! Unfortunately the strike to the foot soon proved to be Walsh’s downfall as he was bowled with an excellent in-cutting delivery a few over’s later for 14.
Jones steady as a rock was joined by Heaver who bludgeoned his first ball to the boundary with his own distinctive batting ‘technique’. Both of them put on an enjoyable partnership and set-up Prestwich for a good total. Jones with a few lusty blows soon saw his personal tally pass the 50 mark. He was finally dismissed shortly after an excellent innings, adjudged to be leg before wicket for 57.
Tom Ward then strolled to the wicket and then he and Heaver accelerated the rate with some excellent blows against still a very good bowling attack. Heaver finished with a jug-avoiding 48 and Tom Ward an impressive 40. Prestwich’s total ending up at a challenging 208.
Tea was good and produced the typical Prestwich comment of the day. This time it was from Joe Walmsley. ‘So do they need 209 to win?’ Needless to say he didn’t receive and answer!!
With Walsh still struggling Tom Ward and John Kerambrum opened the bowling. It took a few over’s for both bowlers to settle in but once they had they both struck repeatedly.
This left Saddleworth reeling 7 wickets down. Matt Smith did a superb job behind the sticks. Taking 3 excellent catches and stopping several wayward deliveries.
With Prestwich in a commanding position skipper Heaver decided to experiment with several bowling changes. Unfortunately the fielding of the team for the rest of the innings didn’t match the efforts put in whilst batting & bowling. This allowed Saddleworth to re-group and have a shot at reaching the 75% target score which would have earned them a point and left Prestwich with only 4.
After much toil the Saddleworth innings closed on 141all-out missing the 75% total. This allowed Prestwich to claim all 5 points for outright victory. Ward ended up with deserved figures of 5 for 29 and Kerambrum 3 for 29. Other notable performances were again from Joe Walmsley who impressed with figures of 1 for 19 and also from the injured Walsh with 1 for 17. A good consistent bowling performance from Greg Carter should be mentioned, who was unlucky not to pick up a wicket.
Overall a solid performance and a hard-worked 5 points. The 3XI still remain undefeated but the fielding must improve if any silverware is to be brought home this year.
