Denton 198 all out, Stand 187 all out

The sun was shining again and following our recent success we were looking to make it three in a row. Stand won the toss and put us in. We got off to a great start, not losing the first wicket until we had reached 39. However things quickly changed and we found ourselves at 80-6. A good knock again (28) from Martin Parker and an excellent 67 from Jonny “the welder” McIlwaine put us back on track. We finished on 198 all out, unfortunately handing Stand 8 extra overs. We got off to a great start with Stand being on 12-3 after only a few overs. Things were going very well and at 140 for 9 the whole crowd thought it was game over. The last wicket partnership of Curphey and Beirne had other ideas and continue to push Stand towards the 199 they needed. The last wicket fell when Steve Roebuck caught Beirne in slip off the bowling of Neill leaving Stand 12 runs short of their target. Great game. Excellent bowling from Neill (5) and Omar (5) and another 5 victims for Jonny Mac.

Irlam 160 all out, Denton 181-9

Looking to build on last weeks win we set off for Irlam with confidence. After winning the toss and electing to bat we were soon struggling at 27 for 4. The introduction of Martin Parker put us back on track with an excellent 65 and a sprinkling of 6 hits which had the neighbouring houses glad that we are finished at Irlam for another year. Martin was ably assisted by Janak who hit a decent 27. Jon and Omar added another 33 runs and we ended up on a reasonable 182 for 9. Irlam also lost early wickets and then rallied a little but some superb catching and fielding particulary from Janak ensured another 5 points when we bowled Irlam out for 160.

Denton 274-7, Thornham 141 all out

Saturday’s game saw us facing Thornham who at the start of the day were level on points with us at the bottom of the league. Fossil won the toss for a change and decided we would have a bat. Good decision. The sun was beating down, the barbecue was getting started, perfect day for cricket. Stan was back off his sick bed and opened the batting with Andy Leech. The rest obviously did him the world of good, he was awesome out there, people were asking who he was cos it was a new Stan out there. We had three players with 50+ scores, Stan with 61, Ste with 63 and 54 for the Aussie. Martin Parker chipped in with 43 from 19 balls and one of the biggest sixes I have ever seen. We ended on 274 for 7 after the 50 overs. A tough task for Thornham but we were all aware that they had chased down a score of 250 earlier in the season. Andy Neill had another great day with the ball claiming another 5 wickets, Omar got 2 and Janak returned figures of 3 wickets for 14 runs. A mention for Jonny the blocker Mac as well who continued his recent great form behind the stumps with another 4 victims today. A well deserved 5 points which due to results elsewhere lifted us to 12th in the table.

Denton 83 all out, DSL 176 all out

After last weeks fantastic win at Denton West we were looking forward to another derby day this time against DSL. We lost two players on the Saturday morning through injury and illness so drafted were youngsters Ryan Halpin and Sam Neill from the second team. Thanks to them both for their efforts, both were superb in the field. We lost the toss (again) and DSL elected to bat. They got off to a flier and had reached 81 before losing the first wicket. Neilly then decided it was time to bowl and that was when the runs dried up for DSL. We bowled DSL out for 176 with Scott Allen top scoring with 63. 5 wickets each for Neilly and Ste with Neilly returning fantastic figures again of 16 overs, 10 maidens, 5 wickets for 15 runs. Can’t understand why he never features in the league side, there can’t be many better than him. Unfortunately our batting was again awful and we were bowled out for 83. Much better performance needed next Saturday for a bottom of the table clash with Thornham.