Prestwich 1XI are up and running in the league following a convincing 8 wicket win over Elton and then went on to book a second round ECB Club Championship tie following a DLS win at St Annes.
On Saturday and with the weather finally looking something resembling a summer, Prestwich restricted Elton to 123 all out from a ball shy of 41 overs.
Andy Bradley’s 4-30 was a club best against the Bury outfit on home soil, beating Paul Gethin’s 4-87 back in 1992. There were also first Prestwich wickets for Pro’ Nico Van Zyl (3-32) and Sam Kershaw (2-1).
In reply, a couple of early Prestwich wickets gave the visitors hope but a superb 101 run partnership between Lewis Smith (51*) and Kershaw (44*, pictured above) eased James Wharmby’s side to all five points with 19 overs to spare.
The following day brought a trip to the Fylde coast to take on St Annes in the ECB Club Championship First Round.
Tom Gibson top scored for Prestwich with 66 while Sam Kershaw was amongst the runs again, this time completing his maiden half-century for the club hitting 52 from 45 balls as we finished on 244-8 from our 40 overs.
With the forecast looking decidedly ropey, the St Annes reply was halted at 108-3 from 21.1 overs as the rain storm arrived ending the contest with them just 6 runs short of the DLS par score.
We now look forward to the visit of Netherfield on Sunday 26th May in Round Two.
Back to Saturday now and there were nails bitten aplenty up in Adlington for the Seconds as they recovered from 52-6 to post a respectable 169-9 from their 50 overs. Andy Beet and Tarun Kumar both top scoring with 35, the latter unbeaten.
Adlington opener Conner Hicklin proved a tough nut to crack, seeing out 7 partners as he looked to guide his team towards their target. But when he was finally trapped LBW by Hassnain Ashfaq, the home side were still 20 runs short with only two wickets and six overs remaining.
A tense finish that could have gone either way swung in Prestwich’s favour when Beet (4-44) bowled Tom Shovelton for 26 leaving Ashfaq (2-4) to knock over Luca Gray’s stumps with the last ball of the 47th over to claim a narrow 6 run win.
Dylan Kane’s team now sit 3rd in their division on net run rate with a full 10 points from their two games played.
Rounding-up the Saturday games, our Fifth’s entertained Sale in a friendly at Radcliffe’s ground and came away with an impressive 5 wicket win.
Skipper Richard Hatchett gave almost everybody a bowl, Oscar Ireland (2-6), Nathan Goodman (2-16) and Anis Khaliq (2-24) the pick of the attack as the South Manchester outfit finished on 169-8 from their 35 overs.
Prestwich made a reasonable start of their response until 3 wickets fell for just 12 runs and at 49-4 some ship steadying was required. Up stepped Nathan Goodman (40*) and a half century from Hatchett (51ret) as the Fifth’s took the win with just 7 balls to spare.
Lewis Smith also had a good weekend with the bat scoring 83 runs in total.
On Sunday the Thirds welcomed Clifton to The Heys and the Manchester Road outfit hit a challenging 185-7 from their 40 overs. Skipper Nick Carter (2-35) and Finlay Lester (2-48) the pick of the bowlers.
With the bat only Adam Taylor (27) offered any early resistance with the rest of the top five failing to get into double figures. Jon O’Connor’s 37 and Stephen Ritchie’s 24 gave Prestwich hope but along came the rain and as Prestwich were behind par the points went back down the M60.
The 4XI travelled to Swinton Moorside with Ariz Sajid (47), Sam Regan (36) and Sid Chopra (24) helping Matthew Eaves’s side to finish on 166-4.
But with the imminent wet weather there was no dawdling from the home side and when they came off at 146-4 from 26 overs, they were well ahead of par and took all five points. Haider Sajid 2-42 and a wicket each for Chris Heys (1-27) and Oscar Ireland (1-13).
Jon O’Connor rolled back the years for the Thirds at home to Clifton.
Finally there was another win for the 5th’s as they took on Lymm Oughtrington Park, Sami Khan’s 3-7 the best figures as Richard Hatchett’s team limited the Cheshire side to 109-9.
Prestwich reached their target inside 21 overs, Anis Khan top scoring with 28, Sami Khan (23*) and Gary Hershcovitch (22), the pick of the batters. A mention too for Christian Millington who saw us over the line scoring 14 from 4 balls – four dot four six!
