It was last-ball agony for Prestwich as they lost their Walkden Cup semi-final in a dramatic finish on Sunday night. Denton St Lawrence (DSL) skipper David Mayne squeezed the ball to short fine leg to scamper the winning run in a game worthy of the final itself.
Before a good-sized crowd, Prestwich had racked up 237 on the Sycamore Avenue ground where they have a luckless record and have not won for years.
Infact, they were comprehensively beaten the day before in their league clash by 137 runs.
However, Sunday’s game saw Prestwich show their true colours – although the only shade they were ultimately left feeling was the blues.
Professional Amal Dalugoda led the run charge with an excellent 84 and with opener Gareth Barnes making a fine 44, hopes of laying the “bogey ground” tag to rest were high.
Chris Thomas contributed a useful 25 and an impressive cameo from James Wharmby (17 not out) had pushed the score well beyond the 200-mark.
Fifteen-year-old Wharmby, having made his first team debut just 24 hours earlier, had audaciously tried to reverse bowler Morrell over the long leg boundary for six, only to be thwarted by an athletic stop on the boundary by Allen.
An opening stand of 84 from DSL gave the home side the solid start they required, but the Heys bowling attack kept the run rate down to around three runs an over.
When Scott Allen was bowled by Dalugoda for 16, Matt Wake made just 4 before Kyle claimed his wicket and Steve Dublin hit three sixes in his 21 until Luke O’Brien clasped the catch off Andy Bradley’s bowling – and when Adam Hawley was bowled by Kyle for 58, DSL were 124 for 4 off with little more than 18 overs left.
An 86-run partnership between James Maurice -Scott (56) and Ghulam Abbas (31) took the home side to the brink of victory until youngster Sam Holden came into the attack for the final few overs and took both scalps.
With John Walters dismissing Nadeem and Thomas briilliantly running out Morrell, five runs were needed off the last over as a tie would give Prestwich victory by losing fewer wickets.
Sixteen-year-old Holden bowled superbly in the final over, and forced the batsmen into some scurried singles to leave the scores level with one ball remaining and the subsequent single propelled the home side into whoops of joy.
On Saturday, a quickfire 48 from Dublin had gatecrashed an otherwise tight start by the Prestwich bowling attack, who had restricted the scoring to two an over in the opening overs.
However, they could never really wrestle back the inititiave, with Maurice-Scott slamming 65 and Abbas not out 37, with hasty hits from Morrell (25) and Nadeem (29 not out).
In reply, the Heys side were never really at the races and slumped to 60 for 6, but Luke O’Brien showed good promise with an innings of 23 and Wharmby made 18.
Bradley top scored with 37 including blasting 20 off one over. However, 137 was all that could be mustered.
