3XI Match Report 24th April

The opening day of the season for the 3rd XI saw Heaton Mersey play Stockport CC in the first of three t20s. The new captain, Rob Lisney, lost his first toss and Stockport elected to bat. 

Opening the bowling for Mersey was Ben and  debutant Haroon. Both found a good line and length with Haroon unlucky not to get his first victim for Mersey with a sharp chance going down behind the stumps. It quickly became apparent that it was a day for the slower bowlers. This brought on Jack Critten who’s outswingers saw the batsmen getting increasingly bogged down which saw a wicket in his second over. This continued into Jack’s 3rd over when he took two wickets in two balls. The hat trick opportunity saw the field come in close hoping for a chance, the ball went straight to first slip where Haroon had enthusiastically placed himself for just such an opportunity!!  Oh no, we won’t talk about that anymore… The experienced bowling of Cheema and Mo kept things tight and both picked up a wicket each supported by the unlucky Ali Raza. Mersey restricted Stockport to 99/7 off their 20 overs.

With only 100 runs to chase Rob and Zeb started solidly, rotating the strike well. Once both batsmen had settled into the partnership, the big shots came with both Rob and Zeb hitting the ball back over the bowler’s head. The partnership rolled on to 61 and Mersey seemed to be cruising until Zeb (23) was removed LBW trying to smash the ball onto Napier road. Next came debutant John Moon (5) who mistimed a short ball to deep midwicket. Rob (39) continued to score runs at a good rate until he was caught at mid wicket. This left Mersey with 15 runs to get with 2 new batsmen at the crease. A few quick ducks left it to Mo (6) and Billy (2) to get Mersey over the line with 4 overs to spare. 

Next week sees two fixtures for the 3rd XI - Sunday vs Stockport Trinity @HMCC & Monday vs Didsbury Away. Please come down and support the 3s.