Prestwich turned up the heat on their local rivals with a hard-fought league triumph against Cheetham Hill followed by a cup victory over Stand.
The short trip to unbeaten Cheetham Hill on Saturday saw the Heys side take the field in glorious sunshine.
Hard sweat and toil was needed in abundance as the home side showed they were in intent on free-scoring.
Ryan Stanbury struck with the fifth ball of the game to dismiss Farooq, caught by keeper James Wharmby, but the stealthy 64-run partnership of Magsood (23) and Ahmed (37) was undone when Tom Gibson swooped like an eagle to run out Magsood for square leg.
An 11-over stint by Lewis Jarvis, who replaced an opening burst from Sam Holden, was rewarded with 2 for 48 and captain Andy Bradley replaced Stanbury for an even longer spell. Whilst the runs ticked over, wickets began to fall at regular intervals on a benign-looking wicket, to make it 106 for 5.
Tufail top scored with 43 but was trapped l.b.w by Bradley, who finished with 3 for 54 from 18 overs, and the Prestwich attack did well to restrict the score to below 200, as Hill finished on 185 for 8 after their 50-over allotment.
The core of the Prestwich reply was dominated by two sturdy stands, the first between Gibson and Holden of 74. Holden fell agonisingly short of his half century, gradually warming to the task and cracking 49, including six boundaries.
Dismissed with the score on 117, there was still work to be done but Stansbury strode to the wicket with purpose to partake in the second worthy stand of 55. He smacked an unbeaten 39 off 36 balls, with the standout shot being a mighty six out of far side of the ground.
Gibson completed an excellent half century and proved the rock of the innings, having come to the crease with the score on 21, and only being dismissed just a handful runs short of victory.
For once at this venue, there were no late traumas and Prestwich passed the target with six wickets and seven overs in hand.
A place in the Walkden Cup quarter-final was at stake on Sunday as Stand were the visitors to The Heys, but fell 62 runs short of a mediocre Prestwich total of 171.
Despite a bright opening start from Wharmby (20) and Carl Hey (16) which realised 25 from the first four overs, Stand hit back with two wickets from the lively Matt Curphey and one from Jack Walmsley to pin the score back to 53.
Stanbury struck a couple of fierce boundaries before being caught by Brett Ernest on the leg side for 15 and it was the in-form Holden who proved crucial to Prestwich, with a vital innings of 48, again falling frustratingly short of the bat-raising figure.
There was support from debutant Ali Raza (13) and David Taylor (17) but with Adnan grabbing four wickets in a tight 10-over spell, Prestwich were losing wickets at an alarming rate.
Indeed, had it not been for a 22-run partnership between Jarvis (6 not out) and Bradley (14), the target could have been noticeably smaller. Adnan finished with 4 for 29, while Curphey 3 for 37, Walmsley 1 for 17 off 10 overs, were able assistants.
Alex Beirne also had an outstanding game behind the stumps, claiming six victims – four caught and two stumped.
Stand faced the expected early onslaught and Stanbury and Holden grabbed a wicket apiece to remove openers David Taylor and Matt Holt, but it was Jarvis who turned the game hugely in the home side’s favour with a marvellous mid-innings spell.
Ernst, Curphey, Alex Bell and Carl Sutcliffe all fell in quick succession to the pace bowler as the scoreboard dramatically changed from 43 for 2 to 51 for 6.
Jarvis’s four-wicket blast came at a cost of four runs.
Stuart Catterall showed typical defiance but with Bradley claiming three late order wickets, the task became too weighty, and Catterall played onto his stumps off Holden to be last man out for a top-scoring 35.
Jarvis finished with a match-defining 4 for 21, with Bradley claiming 3 for 23, Holden 2 for 22, Stanbury 1 for 16, and Hey’s 10-over stint, whilst wicketless, cost just 18 runs.
There’s no rest for the first team this weekend with a triple-header – all at The Heys. Thornham are the visitors in the league on Saturday, followed by Farnworth in the National Knockout Cup on Sunday, and Read in the Lancashire Cup on Monday.
