The 3rd XI travelled to East Lancs Paper Mill on Saturday with a team containing 3 debutants. Will Turnbull, Joe McGregor and Abdullah Khan all given their first taste of senior cricket.
The weather forecast was dire and rain was due to wash out the match at some point in the afternoon. With this in mind ELPM were inserted at the toss. They came out all guns blazing and took early advantage of some length bowling and a short boundary. 40 runs came from the first 4 overs, but the Prestwich bowling attack soon took control and reined in the scoring.
Tight bowling was backed up by some excellent fielding on what was turning into a warm sticky afternoon. Raj Bhaumik took the first couple of wickets, including a sharp caught and bowled, as Tom Ward struggled to find his line against a left/right combination. Tom tested stand-in keeper Mike Mangnall with some wayward bowling, but Mike was up to the task and even pulled off an excellent one handed catch later on.
The change bowlers applied the brakes with Steve Ward,Joe Walmesley and Abdullah Khan going for 33 in 18 overs between them. Karl West (4-1-13-1) and Greg Carter also doing their bit. The long handle came out towards the end of the innings but Tom Ward came back well to finish of the tail ultimately removing the last man, caught at slip by Andy Heaver, with the final ball of the alloted 45 overs.
The flurry of runs at the start and end of the innings meant that Prestwich were set 173 to win.
The team missed the stoical Andy Jones at the top of the order as East Lancs got off to the perfect start, removing debutant Will Turnbull and Skipper Andy Heaver in successive balls.
Mike Mangnall (18) and Tom Ward then rebuilt and Joe McGregor(14) chipped in as the foundations were laid. At drinks the match was interestingly poised with Prestwich at 89-4. Tom Ward (45) fell almost immediately after the break and the game looked like turning in ELPM’s favour.
Joe Walmesley(19) and Abdullah Khan (35) steadied the ship and took the score onto 130 in even time and when Abdullah was stumped, Steve Ward followed his captain’s example also falling first ball trying to hit the ball over the short boundary.
Greg Carter came to the crease and the pair got the score to within ten of victory when Joe was run out going for a suicidal second run, Raj Came and went in similar fashion, leaving the final pair of Karl West (4no) and Greg Carter (31no) the task of scoring the 10 runs needed for victory. With all the field surrounding the bat Karl smashed a full toss to the boundary to win a closely fought contest.
3XI vs Greenmount (H) 12th July 2009
Prestwich 184-8 beat Greenmount 124 all out by 60 runs.
Overnight rain caused a change of wicket at the last minute. Greenmount won the toss and unsurprisingly elected to field. Andy Jones(15) started the innings stroking a boundary but a couple of early wickets, Jack Scargill and Mike Mangnall both falling cheaply, and the decision to field looked good.
Tom Ward (6) and Jamie McAndrew(64) steadied the ship and took the score over the 100 mark where a flurry of wickets brought Andy Heaver(32) and Nick Carter(30) together. The pair put on 52 and took the game away from Greenmount as some mighty blows meant Prestwich posted a very competitive 184-8 in their 45 overs.
Greenmount began their innings slightly later than usual and so pressure was on to complete the 45 overs within the allotted time. Soon Prestwich started to make inroads into the top order, tight bowling from Nick Carter (5-3-9-1) and Tom Ward put Greenmount behind the rate.
Andy Jones demonstrated his ‘sack of spuds’ diving technique was coming on well as he took at catch in the gully of Tom Ward. They found themselves at 22-4 and falling behind the rate.
Joe Walmesley returned another tight spell before Adam Cheshire took over. Cheshire getting bounce and turn out of the track and returning excellent figures of 6-58 from 13 overs. He was backed up with some good fielding, and some excellent juggling from Mike Mangnall but Prestwich still managed to drop 4 catches as Greenmount collapsed from 82-4 to 124 all out.
The Greenmount no.3, Ahmed, was the last man out with an excellent 64.
