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Thankfully, Liam won the toss, which meant the home side had to field first in the scorching heat. Steve Mac and Ethan Kite took to the crease, but it wasn't long before Sam Winstanley had to join Ethan. Steve (6) fell in the first over after absolutely nailing one to square leg, only for the fielder to catch it in his stomach.

Ethan (14) was the next to fall, which meant Jordy and Sam needed to rebuild, and they did so perfectly, sharing a partnership of 67 before Sam was rightly fired off by his dad for a well-made 37. Judgey joined Jordan at the crease, and they put on another valuable partnership worth 72 before Mr. Judge’s hamstring got the better of him, as he was bowled for 41.

Jordy's excellent 73 helped push Clifton beyond 200, but unfortunately, Liam was the only one in the lower order to reach double figures, as Clifton finished their innings on 228-9.

Clifton then took to the field, confident they could keep the home side below the target. Rob and Tom opened up as usual, and Tom struck in his first over, taking a good reaction catch off his own bowling for a caught-and-bowled. Rob joined the fun six balls later, dismissing the second opener to leave the hosts at 14-2 after just 3 overs.

Tom then picked up his second, with Jordy taking a comfortable catch. Liam got himself on the board next, linking up with Owen, who took a nice catch to remove the settled number 4. The home side were now 78-4, and that’s when the collapse began, with Liam and Jordy rattling through the batting order, both taking three wickets each and getting the job done as Clifton cruised to another comfortable victory, winning by 123 runs.

This result means the 2s maintain the 17-point gap at the top of the table. Next week, we welcome second-place Swinton Moorside to Manchester Road in a local derby, where they will look to increase the gap even further.

What followed, however, was a display of patience fromEdgworth by Williams-Denton (65) and late acceleration came from Taylor(41), Broughton (34), and Kelly (17* off 8), swinging momentum Edgworth’sway in the final 10 overs.

Clifton debutant Praharsh Parikh made an instant impact,claiming 4 wickets, including Smith-Butler, in an impressive debutant spell ,finishing with figures of 4-75. Despite this, Edgworth’s late hitting poweredthem to an imposing 276 from their 50 overs.

In reply, Clifton started steadily. Zach Flaxman (23) and JackStanley put together a composed opening stand, with Stanley going on totop-score with 49 in trying conditions. However, just as partnerships began toform, wickets began to fall.

The defining feature of Edgworth’s bowling innings was thecontrol and maturity shown by their young spinners, Taylor (3-29), and Kellywho stole the show, ripping through Clifton’s middle order to claim animpressive 5-65.

Clifton battled valiantly, with Ethan Pietkiewicz (24) and BenHamilton (13) offering resistance, but the required rate, the heat, and theguile of Edgworth’s slow bowling proved too much in the end.

Despite the result, there were real positives for Clifton,not least the exciting debut of Parikh and the opening fire from Sleight. Onanother day, with a slightly tighter finish to the first innings, the chasemight have looked very different.

Clifton head into next week determined to bounce back, withplenty of fight left in the tank.