Pott Shrigley vs 1stXI
This was an ugly win for the 1stXI on a day only ever designed for ugly cricket. Whilst the sun finally shone, the cricketers of Pott Shrigley and Disley squelched their way through barely half of the designated overs in a game where, of the nineteen who attempted to tame this sticky wicket, only three batsmen surpassed an individual total of six.
To attempt the orthodox was to fail, so it was only right that the game was swiftly finished by Madusha Wettasinghe clubbing all of his four scoring shots to the boundary. Mercifully, a disciplined bowling effort meant Disley were only chasing 49 after Simon Hare (5-21), Xan Wood (2-16) and the miserly Toby Carson (9-6-5-2) utilised conditions to the fullest during the first innings.
Toby Carson was instantly into his stride, reeling off maidens and adding the early scalp of Barlow caught at slip. Partner Reynolds was equally impressive despite remaining wicketless in 2012, but his pressure led to a run-out and Cleaver was unfortunately grounded on 0 as a sharp chance went down at gully. The Pott number three would take advantage to reach the heady heights of double figures but he was suckered by the cutters of golden arm of Xan Wood and with that the runs completely dried up.
Simon Hare was invited to carry on where he left off last week and did so with aplomb, tying up an end before a flurry of wickets late in his ten over spell to run through the middle and lower order. Wood and Carson chipped in with scalps but veteran Hare was enjoying conditions so much he even wrapped up his five-for, and the innings, with a rare caught and bowled (49ao) to the amazement of his teammates.
Surviving for just 29 overs after winning the toss and electing to bat showed just how tough it was for strokeplay and the chase was likely to be attritional. To their credit the Disley attack bowled within themselves and let the pitch do the work. Whilst Hare’s 5-21 caught the eye, the maturity with which teenager Toby Carson bowled his nine overs to return 2-5 was extremely encouraging.
Full of confidence he strode out to again open the batting and made an equally valuable contribution with the willow as Disley too found it tough going. Of the top four he was the only batsman to find the boundary on his way to 13 – a big knock in the context of the game – as Disley slid to 31-5.
After the previous weekend’s indiscretions Disley were a little edgy but found the perfect remedy– introducing Madusha Wettasinghe who was probably wondering what all the fuss was about. The Sri Lankan smashed his second delivery to the fence and set about attempting to do the same to almost every ball faced.
It was unquestionably the right way to go after the watchful top order had perished, and in the blink of an eye the game was won as enough came out of the screws to quickly overcome another wobble as John Greaves fell to a superb tumbling catch by Adam Davis.
Wettasinghe finished in style as he sent the day’s only maximum towards an ecstatic pavilion and he finished with 18* not out from just four scoring shots to secure 25pts to send the 1stXI up to third in the table despite playing only two games in a rain-affected season. Pott’s three seamers shared the six wickets as they fought manfully in the circumstances and made things tough for Disley right up until the late cameo that finished the game.
For the 1stXI it was just important to get over the line after throwing away the game in their first outing so a win was welcome no matter how it arrived.
