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Clifton 3rd XI moved to within one victory of the leaguetitle with a dominant 100-run victory over Radcliffe, maintaining theirremarkable unbeaten run for the season.

Batting first, Clifton had to recover from a difficult startbefore posting an imposing 186-9 from their 40 overs. Early wickets leftClifton 20-2 before Owen Hogben took control of the innings. With wicketsfalling around him, Hogben produced an outstanding knock, patiently rebuildingbefore accelerating as the innings progressed.

Clifton slipped to 89-6, but Hogben found excellent supportfrom Fred Breidenbach and together the pair completely changed the complexionof the game.

They added a superb 80 runs for the seventh wicket, takingClifton from a vulnerable position to 169-7. Hogben eventually departed for amagnificent 87 from 103 balls, including eight boundaries. An innings thatformed the backbone of Clifton's total.

Breidenbach carried on the good work, finishing 35 not outfrom just 33 deliveries, with five fours, as Clifton reached 186.

If Radcliffe thought they had a chance of chasing it,Clifton's bowlers quickly had other ideas.

Tom Worthington produced a devastating opening spell,reducing Radcliffe to 29-4 and ripping the heart out of the top order. At theother end the pressure was relentless, with Radcliffe finding runs extremelydifficult to come by.

The final word fittingly belonged to Worthington, whoreturned to dismiss A. Mehmood and complete a brilliant five-wicket haul,finishing with figures of 5-22 from eight overs, including two maidens.

Radcliffe were dismissed for just 86 in 27 overs, sealing anemphatic 100-run victory for Clifton.

It was another hugely impressive team performance from a 3rdXI who simply keep finding ways to win. Hogben's superb 87 rescued the inningswhen Clifton were under pressure, Breidenbach provided the crucial latemomentum and Worthington's five-for ensured Radcliffe were never seriously inthe chase.

Most importantly, the unbeaten run continues.

After a fantastic season so far, Clifton 3rd XI now stand justone win away from securing the league title.

One more. 🏏🏆

Clifton 1st XI suffered another agonisingly close defeat onSaturday, falling just four runs short in a thrilling run chase away at Monton.After the narrow defeat at Denton West, it was a frustratingly familiar storyfor Clifton, who once again fought their way into a position from which thegame could have been won.

Batting first, Monton posted 211-9 from their 50 overs. Cliftonmade a good start with the ball. Oliver Sleight removed Will Helmke for 10before Gareth Cross dismissed Tom Willoughby for two, leaving the hosts 32-2. Monton'sinnings was then rebuilt by Jordan Stephens and professional TharushanIddamalgoda, who put together a crucial 95-run partnership for the third wicket.Stephens played the anchor role with 41 from 104 balls, while Iddamalgodaprovided the impetus with an excellent 83 from 100 deliveries.

Ben Hamilton eventually broke the partnership by removingStephens and followed it up just three balls later with the wicket of JakeSandham. Iddamalgoda continued alongside Joshua Lenihan, whose 31 helped Montonpush towards 200, before Clifton finished the innings strongly.

Hamilton was once again the standout with the ball, takingan excellent 5-58 from his 15 overs, his second five-wicket haul in successivematches. Cross returned 3-49 from 15, while Sleight bowled particularlyeconomically for 1-41 from 15 overs, including three maidens.

Monton eventually closed on 211-9, leaving Clifton needing212 for victory.

The reply could hardly have started worse. Stephen McManusdeparted in the opening over before Gareth Cross and Sam Dorsey followed,leaving Clifton struggling at 37-3.

But Caleb Donaldson and Joe Settle refused to let the gameget away. The pair produced a superb recovery, adding 102 for the fourth wicketand gradually putting Clifton right back into the contest. Donaldson struckeight boundaries in a patient 66 from 121 balls, while Settle continued toaccumulate at the other end. Donaldson's dismissal at 139-4 was followed by thewickets of Joe McCann and Praharsh Parikh, and at 147-6 Clifton once again hadplenty of work to do.

Ben Hamilton then continued his excellent recent form,following his five wickets with a valuable 25 from 26 balls. His partnershipwith Settle took Clifton to 181 and kept the chase alive. Zach Flaxman addednine, including a six, as the target edged ever closer.

With the game going deep into the final over, Clifton werestill fighting. Oliver Sleight was run out for three with the score on 206, butSettle remained at the crease with victory tantalisingly close. Unfortunately,there was to be no fairytale finish.

Settle's excellent innings finally came to an end for 58from 101 balls with Clifton on 207, just five runs short of their target andwith only two deliveries remaining.

Monton 211-9 beat Clifton 207 all out by four runs.

It was another incredibly tough result to take. For thesecond successive game Clifton had pushed their opponents all the way, only tocome out on the wrong side of a result that could easily have gone the otherway.

There were again plenty of positives: another five-wickethaul for Hamilton, excellent control from Cross and Sleight, Donaldson'sdetermined 66 and Settle's superb effort to take the chase into the final over.But ultimately it was another case of so near, yet so far.

The lads will dust themselves down and go again, knowingthat performances are not far away from being turned into results.

The 2nd XI got back to winning ways on Saturday with a convincing win over Worsley, who started the day only one place and 5 points behind, but the performance suggested that gap gave a false impression that these teams would be closely matched and provide us with an afternoon's entertainment of competitive cricket.

Returning captain Liam Dorsey decided to stick Worsley in, and was immediately rewarded with an exceptional spell of opening bowling from the now regular partnership of Dan Jones and Tom Worthington, who had the visitors rocked at 12/3 after 13 overs. 

Back to back maidens to start set the tone, then in Dan's second over he caught the edge of school teacher Nick Irwin’s bat, who was caught behind by his student in youngster Fred Breidenbach, who I’m sure will mention it once or twice in school this week. 

Going into the 12th over the visitors were trapped at 11/1, with it only being a matter of time before the next wicket fell. Tom picked up the edge to be caught at slip by Liam, then a few balls later it was another snick behind from Dan to be caught by Fred. 

A mini re-build followed with 40 odd runs coming in the next spell as Lewis Keogh and Daanyaal Mehmood struggled to find their range early on, but then both got into their rhythm and picked up wickets to leave Worsley at 69/6 at the end of their spells. Keogh knocking back the middle stump of Brocklebank a particular highlight for a 7 ball duck.

Liam Dorsey then came into the attack with Dan Jones returning as the pair of them aimed to clean up the tail, with both picking up wickets to have them 102/9, before a late rally pushed them up to 136, which still looked about 100 behind par. 

Dan was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 14-4-14-4, bowling only 1 wide and not conceding a single boundary from his 14 overs, but fell one wicket short of his “5 fer” for the 3rd time in 4 weeks. Maybe next week....

However, in this week's “Wide Watch”, there was an improvement from the embarrassing 38 bowled last week down to "only" 20 this week, but it’s still far too many for a side with aspirations of winning the majority of games they play and playing in higher divisions. 

Chasing down 137 was never in any danger, with contributions from Ethan (31), Dan (18) and Sam (26) without any of them kicking on, before Oscar (20) and Lewis (14) saw it home with plenty in the tank. 

Ethan ran out of mates pretty quickly at Stand last week, but apart from Luke going early on, everyone else chipped in with runs to knock off the below par target without a moments worry. 

It’s bottom of the table Hindley St Peters up next week, so an ideal opportunity to finish the season on a brighter note and get another win on the board, with only Stretford and Bradshaw left to play before this disappointing season comes to an end.