1stXI vs Wirral
Just shy of 400 runs were scored at the DASC on Saturday as the 1stXI had the better of a high-scoring draw with Wirral. Despite almost incessant drizzle, the batsmen enjoyed themselves on a hard deck and quick outfield with Andrew Clarke (79) and Will Ritchie (58*) both striking boundary-laden half-centuries in Disley’s first-innings 210-8 – the highest team total of the day in Division 3.
Disley did their best to entice the visitors to lose wickets in search of a successful chase after they failed to make a breakthrough with the new ball, but Wirral eventually gave up the ghost at 187-8 despite the best efforts of Xan Wood (3-42), Simon Hare (2-41) and Eddie Clark (2-7).
Wickets proved difficult to come by all day with the 1stXI losing six of their eight in a late-innings acceleration. Stew Reynolds struck three early boundaries before being bowled by Holder (18-1), but a platform was constructed as Andrew Clarke dominated stands of 53 with James Banner and 57 with Jake Reynolds.
The 1stXI skipper cruised to a first fifty of the season, but when he fell to a boundary-traversing catch at deep point in search of a sixth maximum to add to his 79 (128-4) the responsibility for finishing the innings was handed to Will Ritchie.
With a wet ball hampering the efforts of the bowlers and fielders, Ritchie was in ebullient form as the cuts and pulls of Clarke were replaced by some ferocious straight hitting that included one of his five sixes landing in the far end of the tennis court.
He lost some partners along the way attempting to help him farm the strike, but his rapid 58* (4×4, 5×6, 37b) propelled Disley to 210-8 and made full use of the disciplined efforts of the top order to keep wickets in hand.
The 1stXI would finish up needing all of those runs at their disposal after a luckless start with the new ball. The only early ‘strike’ was a sharp Jake Reynolds bouncer into the grill of Lewis’ helmet as a streaky start began to look more assured for Wirral and 60 runs were accrued into the gaps of some attacking fields.
The stand was finally broken by Dave Potter (60-1) which opened the door for two quick wickets from Ed Clark (65-3), but, for the second successive week, the 1stXI were again made to suffer by a left/right-hand batting partnership.
Hackett and Develing combined to set up an exciting finish, aggressively adding 76 for the fourth wicket, but neither could go on to a match-winning score as Xan Wood’s second spell accounted both batsmen for 32 and 41 respectively to leave all three results a possibility in the closing overs.
To their credit, Wirral attempted to continue attacking but the momentum of their innings had now been lost with Wood and Hare producing some fine death bowling. It eventually forced the visitors to abandon their chase and play out the remaining overs for a draw, finishing a creditable 187-8 in an excellent game of cricket.
Wood (3-42), Hare (2-41) and Clark (2-7) were the pick of Disley’s six-man attack, helping return a healthy 16pts to keep the 1stXI in 3rd place in Division Three. Next week Disley make the long trip to The Groves hoping to extend their impressive unbeaten start.
