Match Report

Match Report Sun 26 April: 3rd XI vs Greenfield CC (Home)

Tue 28 Apr 2026

Clifton 3’s welcomed rivals Greenfield to Manchester Road in what many had tipped to be a challenging encounter. Greenfield were crowned champions of the GMCL Sunday Premier League on the final day of last season, losing once and tie-ing once to the Kingfishers in the league. Clifton also knocked Greenfield out of the cup at the Semi Final Stage, so there is no love lost between the two sides.

At the toss, Elliot Hogben elected to bowl first. A decision that didn’t take long to be rewarded, Lewis Keogh opening up from the bottom end crashed his first in-swinging delivery into the front pad of the Greenfield skipper. A spell of masterful bowling followed from Keogh (25-2) and Dunn (15-3) to reduce the top order to 45-5.

Winstanley, Thorpe and Hogben helped to mop up the tail, ably assisted by some excellent wicket keeping from Chris Thorpe. Bowling Greenfield out for a megre 83 on a good batting surface.

Luke Jones and Ethan Kite strolled to the middle following the tea break. Saying they batted comfortably would be an understatement, between them cruising to a comfortable 50 partnership which did not reflect that the pair had a combined age of just 29! With Ethan batting in his usual assured way, Jones turned the screw - dispatching anything too short or full to the fence. A highlight being his huge six back over the bowler into the sight screen, a shot that a certain first team opener would have been proud of.

After grafting his way to 49*, young Luke succumbed to a flighty leg spinning delivery that he couldn’t resist trying to put on the roof of the pavilion, ending his time in the middle and denying him his maiden senior fifty. Clifton finished the innings 84/1 after just 15 overs, using two batsmen with Oscar Thorpe walking out to the non-strikers end.

Another victory for the 3rd XI, a great knock from Luke Jones and another success story for the Clifton conveyor belt of junior talent.

Now for a well deserved weekend off as the 2’s face a double game weekend.