With the away game at Egerton earlier in the season being one of those days where everything went wrong for the Clifton 2s, this return fixture was a chance for redemption; which was achieved with a dominating win which keeps the promotion hopes alive.
Liam won the toss and opted to bat on a cold, cloudy and breezy day, which got off to the worst possible start when in-form opener Ethan Kite snicked off first ball. A few overs later his fellow opener, Luke Jones, followed him back to the shed.
The rebuilding job was outstanding from Dan Jones and Sam Winstanley, putting on a 109 run partnership before Sam (50) edged behind a few moments after raising his bat, following yet another mature innings.
Dan looked set and in for a big score, but a moment of madness in opting for a single that was never on, he ran himself out for 61 to leave the hosts at 137/4 and the visitors a opening to get back into the game that was getting away from them.
The second 109 run partnership of the game - this time from Lewis Keogh and Oscar Thorpe - put Clifton firmly in control. Almost every bad ball Lewis faced he sent racing to the rope or miles over it, while Oscar put on a masterclass in playing the ball late and along the ground, hardly giving away a chance in his magnificent 68 not out.
Lewis was set for another half century, but painfully chipped one up for catching practise to square leg to fall on 49.
A late cameo of 19 from skipper Liam Dorsey set a target of 284 for the visitors, which looked about 200 too many for much of the chase.
In a change to the opening bowling attack, Dan Jones was given the new ball for the first time this season and rewarded his captain with a superb opening 7 over spell of 3-21 to clean up their top 3. Tom chipped in from the other end with 1-19 from his 7 overs and the visitors were under the pump at 31/4 with 250 more to get.
Liam Dorsey ripped through the middle order with 4-31 from his 9 over spell, before an annoying 55 run partnership meant Dan Jones was brought back on, rewarding his captain’s decision in removing the set Salman Patel on 65 with a great catch low down from 12yr old keeper, Fred Breidenbach, to finish with figures of 4-24 from his 8 overs. Elliott then cleaned up the last wicket to seal a comprehensive 140 run victory and keep promotion hopes alive.
In this week’s “wide watch” of the 2nd XI bowlers, there was a huge improvement from recent weeks with 14 extras bowled (1 bye, 13 wides) in comparison to last weekend’s shambolic 56 extras at Woodbank (12b, 6lb and 38 wides).
It’s an important trip to East Lancs Paper Mill 1st XI next week, where a win would put Clifton back into 2nd place and hot on the heels of Horwich at the top.