Ryan Stanbury might normally hit the headlines with his batting – but he stole the limelight with his explosive bowling last Saturday to wrestle victory from high-flying Greenfield.
The Prestwich all-rounder went “flat out” for success, taking 8 for 38 in the defence of a below-par total of 171 at the picturesque Saddleworth ground.
Greenfield needed less than 38 overs to dismiss the visitors, but soon found themselves on the back foot when Stanbury struck with the very first ball of the innings. Despite not feeling well, he continued to create havoc to the Greenfield line-up, backed up some excellent fielding.
None more so than Tom Scott’s remarkable one-handed catch when it looked all over that the ball would loop over his head – but he stretched out a palm while lunging backwards to clasp and cling onto it, much to the crowd’s amazement – and ‘Scotty’ looked slightly surprised too. This dismissal of Brooks for 0 made it 24 for 3, and was one of 7 ducks in the Greenfield innings.
Andy Bradley bowled superbly in support of Stanbury and took the two other remaining wickets, one with such turn that it left opener Woolley totally bamboozled.
Fittingly, Stanbury finished off the game, with a superb diving return catch, snaffled at the second attempt. These were his best-ever bowling figures and his 6th five-wicket haul for the first team, taking him level with Sam Holden and Steve Ward.
It was also notable that Stanbury was twice on a hat-trick ball – the first of which was a wide, but learned from it with his second attempt, where he was a feather away from finding the edge.
Stanbury was also at the forefront of Prestwich Heat’s victory against the Gin Pit Gladiators on Friday night, when any chances of progressing to the quarter-finals rested with achieving victory in double-quick time to boost their net run rate.
That’s what exactly what was delivered as the visitors made 106 for 5 before Heat blasted back to pass the target in just 5.5 overs.
Stanbury smashed 8 sixes, 2 fours, in his unbeaten 59 off 17 balls, Ali Amzat crashed 31 off 14 balls, and Danny Pawson only faced 4 balls – but 3 of them went for six!
This meant Heat now have a hot date at Edgworth Fury this Friday.
The 2nd team had an excellent win at home to Elton Vale 1sts by eight wickets in their league match last Saturday. Vale were reduced to 28 for 8 after Umar Arif (4 for 20) and Haris Aziz (3-34) wrecked the top order, but 62 not out from number 10 batsman Shah pushed the total to 128.
The target was comfortably reached thanks to Jack Doyle’s unbeaten 51 and 33 not out from Lewis Smith.
The 3rd XI were in cup action on Sunday and an all-round good team performance earned them a place in the quarter-finals with a six wicket win over Walshaw 3rds.
The visitors were dismissed for 108, with Hassnain Ashfaq taking 3 for 14, Josh Ahern 3 for 32, and Anees Arif 2 for 8 (off 7 overs) before being surpassed with several overs to spare.
The only defeat for the club’s senior teams came last Friday when Prestwich Patriots could only reach a total of 64 in their T20 clash with Wythenshawe Lions, who made mincemeat of the target in 9.1 overs.
STANBURY’S GR-EIGHT DISPLAY
