Match Report

The firsts picked up another six points on Saturday, which put them within sniffing distance of a Lancashire Knockout spot for 2027. Five wins from the last six has propelled Sam's side into the top six, 27 points clear of the bottom spot that they occupied last time the teams met. Once again, the result was heavily influenced by Gareth Cross whose purple patch extended its tentacles to the steaming hot sward of Horwich's Recreation Ground, which was built by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Company in 1892, in order to 'maintain a healthy workforce'. As recently as May, the ground was under threat from the dreaded housing developers, before the council stepped in and bought the land. (I know how much you readers enjoy a bit of background).

After winning the toss and deciding to bat, the township of Horwich was stunned into silence by the sight of Jack Stanley leaping like an over sexed salmon at mid-on to take a stunning one handed catch. "He only catches the difficult ones" quipped one of three Clifton away fans. That heralded the first of five scalps for Crossy, who drove himself through fifteen overs to finish with a remarkable 5-27 as the home side were dismissed for 109. Just under two years the junior of the mercurial Jimmy Anderson, Crossy then dug the batting line up out of a bit of a hole at 49-4, with a patient 69 not out, with massive credit also going to Joe McCann whose 23 not out allowed Gareth to gradually resume his normal methodology of destroying any loose bowling.

Earlier, it had looked as though Ollie with 2-28, and Gareth had sewn the game up with Ben Hamilton chipping in with the wicket of the dangerous South African Brett Pelser reducing them to 58-8, but the sapping heat and some risk free batting allowed the tail to wag with annoying partnerships of 20 and 31 in twenty energy sapping overs. In reply, Caleb got atop edge sweeping and Steve Mac and Sam fell to the same bowler in quick succession, then Praharsh fell at the other end, which heralded the arrival of Joe who saw it out with 22 overs to spare. Those of a certain age will remember adverts that exclaimed "Phyllosan fortifies the over forties". The drug squad are examining Crossy's bathroom cabinet as I speak.