JULY 2011
31st – The firsts had a mixed weekend starting with a
fantastic and emphatic 9 wicket win over Littleborough. Hendro Puchert hit 67
not out and Adam Holt with 31 not out saw a comfortable victory for the home
side. The 2nd XI also had a comfortable win at home on Sunday against
Radcliffe. Batting first, Clifton scored 189 all out with Geoff Griffiths
unbeaten on 87 when he eventually ran out of partners. Wickets fell soon and
regularly early on but a stubborn late order partnership steadied the ship.
Radcliffe were eventually all out for 129. However, the good news ended there
as the results in the other first and second XI game ended in defeat.
27th - Will Davidson continued his cricketing education last
week with the annual weeklong tour down to Taunton in Somerset with the
Lancashire tots. Will firstly scored 46 not out and then this was followed by a
Century in the next game. Will was obviously not too happy with these scores as
he was spotted back in Clifton's nets on his first day back on Saturday !!!
Special mention should also go to Adam Holt who scored his maiden half century
for Lancashire under 17's side last week. Well done to both of them.
24th
- News from last weekend's games against Royton included
a good win for the 2nds on Saturday at home but defeat for the firsts despite
Magic Mo taking 5 wickets to restrict Royton to 184. However, there the good
news ended as the batting capitulated to 104 all out. Better news for the
seconds though as Royton batted first and scored 164 in their allotted overs.
Clifton's reply couldn’t include a match winning contribution as promising
partnerships came and went. Yet again it was the last wicket pair who saved the
day with Rob Meredith bludgeoned 3 fours to finish the game off in style.
10th - The Lancashire Knockout journey ended in
farsical circumstances as Read progressed to the quarter finals after yet
another bowl out victory. Read have yet to play a game in the competition as
all their matches have been decided on bowl outs !
6th – The website
crashed today for the first time for a long time after being invaded by a
virus. Web Wiz Dave Rogers sorted the problem but it took four days and then
the problem re-emerged. Eventually the hosting company admitted that the fault
was at their end as they had been “invaded” !.
3rd - The firsts
went out of the Wood Cup at Middleton on Sunday after Middleton professional Michael Smith took his seasons tally in excess
of 1000 with knock of 150 as Middleton posted 275. A huge and confident appeal
which would have seen the South African caught behind in fifty was turned down
by the umpire and that allowed the 31 year old to go on and plunder another 100
and effectively win the game. Greg Jennings’ last four deliveries all resulted
in wickets, two being run outs, as Middleton strived to improve on that score
still further, but the Clifton reply was regularly interspersed with wickets,
including professional Hendro Puchert electing to leave a straight ball when on
4, as several batsmen got starts but failed to go on to post the sort of score
that would allow others to bat around him and mount a challenge. As it was,
they finished on 203 and went out of the competition by 72 runs. 
Walsden
inflicted two heavy defeats on the firsts and seconds on Saturday, despite a
mesmeric performance from Mubeen Akhtar who took 7-39 as Walsden were dismissed
for a mediocre 164. That proved 61 too many though as some less than convincing
batting saw the firsts succumb to103 all out. The seconds fared even worse as
they attempted to chase down almost 300 at Walsden and fell over a hundred
short despite some late bludgeoning by Danny Hill. That left the thirds to
carry the flag for the weekend as roles were reversed from last weekend when
they were the only losers. A fixture anomaly meant that they played the same
opponents in Elton Vale, but this time the Bury side batted first in an attempt
to repeat another heavy defeat. However, the thirds were not as depleted as
last week and showed great spirit to come back, especially when the visitors
set off at more than six an over. Stephen Birch broke the pattern with 5-40 off
eleven overs and Vale had to settle for 174 all out with over 11 overs wasted.
Phil Royle, enjoying the sun on his back, then played some lovely ground shots
to score 74 before his mantle was taken over by teenagers Sam Brown (37no) and
Mike Ferry (31no) who both played with great maturity to delight skipper Mark
Unwin and give the thirds a seven wicket win.
PICs: Walsden’s deputy pro Peter Connell becomes Mo’s sixth victim.
Steve’s wife managed to snap his bald pate gleaming, as the last
ball of Elton Vale’s innings is delivered.