1sts hit top form

by Steve Orrell | Friday June 17th 2022 | Cricket

The 1st team are beginning to find some consistency after a triple-winning weekend saw them rise to 2nd in the Premier Division before defeating a strong Formby side in the Lancashire Cup.

The winning streak began last Friday in a T20 thriller against Woodbank Wildboyz. Prestwich Heat fired up a score of 156-5 from 20 overs, with skipper James Wharmby cracking 50, Tom Gibson 36 and Danny Pawson 30. The home side then fell 2 runs short as Nathan Bailey and Shivam Chauhan picked up two wickets each.

On Saturday, Wharmby top scored with 49 and Mike Hudson made 25 when the 1sts could only set a target of 144 against Clifton. But that still proved 27 runs too many as Bailey (4-31), Chauhan (3-21) and Ryan Maddock (3-40) spearheaded a successful fightback.

Prestwich needed to rack up more runs the following day in the Lancashire Cup, and more than doubled their total. They set a challenging total of 298 for 3, with Lewis Smith (pictured) scoring his maiden first team fifty, going on to make an unbeaten 91. He became the 107th player since World War 2 to register a first-team 50.

Chauhan smashed a quickfire 82 not out, Wharmby 60 and Sam Holden 49. Wharmby’s first run of this innings saw him reach a notable landmark – his 8000th run for the first team.

Formby made a valiant attempt, making 240 all out, Pawson and Maddock taking 3 wickets each.

The 2nd team – named Prestwich Patriots in their T20 competition – got off to comfortable winning start against Woodbank Wildboyz 2, restricting them to 112 for 8. Aaryaman Roy, Adam Cheshire and Khalid Noori all yielded a couple of wickets each.

The target was overhauled for the loss of just one wicket – Roy for 25 – as Hariz Aziz (56 not out) and Uwais Khaliq (21 not out) could not be budged.

In the 2nd’s league encounter against East Lancs Paper Mill on Saturday, Cheshire (4-14), Wilf Reeve (3-23), and Uwais Khaliq (3-27) bowled out the opposition for 67. Haris Aziz then made an unbeaten 28 in the Prestwich reply as victory was secured by eight wickets.