With some silverware in the cupboard, attention turned to the Cheshire league semi-final amongst an array of lower key summer competition matches.
Tuesday 23rd July 2024: Heaton Mersey Magic 251 (67/4 off 16) lost to Bramhall Bisons 282 (98/4 off 16) by 31 runs – High Peak summer competition pairs (Scorecard)
A rare loss for the team tonight. Mersey batted first and got 251-4. Bramhall replied with 282-3. It was still close with 4 overs to go, but unfortunate their last batting pair were too strong. There was a great team spirit again and the team kept going right until the last ball. The Bramhall team were all Year 6s, so the fact we matched them for most of the game was a real positive.
Thursday 25th July 2024: North East Cheshire Tornadoes 244 (68/6 off 16) lost to Heaton Mersey Phoenix 259 (95/9 off 16) by 15 run – High Peak summer competition pairs (Scorecard)
It was a cloudy and overcast evening at what is probably Cheshires highest cricket ground. NECCC won the toss and put Mersey into bat and both teams notified that they had dedicated wicket keepers. NECCC’s opening bowler was a very special player who ripped through our opening two pairs taking 5 wickets for 6 runs from 3 overs. Boundaries were hard to come as the pitch was set with a very wide boundary and the long grass resulted in many balls slowing up just before the rope.
Mersey dug in and began to recover with 4s from Harrison, Monty, Albert and Younus as we struggled to 229 off 12. Felix saved the innings with a powerful 32 not out to give the team a chance but even so 259 seemed a low total. NECCC’s star player proved to be an allrounder scoring 4s with ease, although Cameron managed to bowl him and give us hope.
Wickets then followed from Monty and Karam but with NECCC only needing 28 off the last 8 overs victory still seemed distant. With tidy bowling from Albert and Felix, the run rate began to dramatically fall, supported by very tight fielding and superb keeping by Tom R. When Younus took a wicket in the 13th over, NECCC’s vocal parent supporters started to fall silent as the game turned. In the final 3 overs, masterful bowling by Felix (2 wickets for 6 runs) and a maiden over for Harrison saw NECCC’s total reduced to 244. A win for Mersey by 15 runs.
Overall, a superb win for the boys showing courage and resilience after a tough start and also learning that some pitches are low scoring so to judge your total according to the ground.
Friday 26th July 2024: Heaton Mersey Phoenix 282 (114/8 off 20) beat Toft 258 (110/13 off 16) by 24 runs – Cheshire league pairs: semi-final play-off (Scorecard)
After 2 years of hurt, the team put on a performance for the ages last night to reach a CHESHIRE FINAL. Toft won the toss and batted first in what looked good batting conditions in the sun. Zayaan and Younus took the new ball and picked up 2 wickets each as Toft's game plan to attack everything played in to our hands. Sam H and Adam came on and the wickets kept coming.
The Toft batters were excellent, but the bowling and fielding can only be described as relentless. There was no bad over. They had to earn every run. Arjo bamboozled them with his spin, taking 1 for 4. Isaac took 1 for 6 in 3 fantastic overs and there were 3 wickets for Stan too who kept scattering the stumps with perfect line and length. Harrison and Joseph were sensational at the end, keeping the runs down with express pace. Harrison would have had 3 lbws next season.
A direct hit from Joseph and a diving boundary catch from Younus that made their umpire applaud were two more highlights. Sam W kept really bravely on a very difficult pitch and was an absolute star. The wicket was very up and down though and 258 would not be straightforward.
Toft had the fastest bowler I've seen at this age and Harrison was absolutely superb seeing him off. Younus took 2 horrible blows from him, but he bravely kept going, and we were just ahead of the run rate after the pair. Next Stan, continuing his superb form, top scoring with an unbeaten net score of 15 and Isaac with 12 moved us in control.
Zayaan, Arjo, Adam and Joseph all made strong contributions and all hit fours in the next 2 pairs to get us in to a narrow lead. Wickets fell regularly, but the scoreboard kept ticking. Finally, Sam H and Sam W had the tricky task of going out with everything to lose. They played it perfectly, though, with Sam H hitting a huge 6 and lots of sensible defence and calling to ensure we had a relatively comfortable win.
Whatever happens in the final, it is ridiculous what this group has achieved. Lots of coaches and players who were present from other age groups couldn't believe the standard of cricket they were seeing. Nobody could remember a Heaton Mersey team ever reaching a Cheshire final. Fantastic. Deserved. Thank you.
Sunday 28th July 2024: Heaton Mersey 97/3 (20) beat Urmston 51 all out (18.4) by 46 runs – South Manchester summer cup T20 (Scorecard)
Great win today against a very strong Urmston side. Put in to bat, Harrison retired with an excellent 25 and Zayaan was just one away when the innings closed. All the boys who got chance to bat got a start as we made 97/3 on a very slow pitch with uneven bounce. The bowling and fielding was immense again. Will 2 for 2 and Stan with 1 for 0 with 2 maidens the pick. But Arjo, Thomas, Harrison, Zayaan and Tommy all got a wicket each too.
All the boys kept it tight. Thomas and Tommy both took great catches and Arjo got a direct hit. Keeping was great from both Sam and Harrison and included a stumping. Felix was brilliant as captain, setting all the fields and picking the bowling order. Urmston were restricted to 51 all out. This was against a team from a higher league than us this season who expected to beat us. So a great win.
Sunday 28th July 2024: Stockport 316 (128/3 off 16) beat Heaton Mersey Magic 272 (100/7 off 16) by 44 runs – High Peak summer competition pairs (Scorecard)
That was tough today vs Stockport. It was never going to be easy and they only have a first team, so they were always going to be strong. We actually set a decent target of 272 runs and, against any other team, this could have been defendable but their batting was insane and we lost our heads and let’s be honest my crazy Matty was insane in the field which didn’t help.
They scored 316. They didn’t have a bad batter amongst them. They had one kid for whom this was their first match and he banged two fours!! Maybe if we hadn’t lost our heads the margin would have been closer. Still an epic flying catch from Harley and Cameron’s defensive batting shots as a newbie, were worth the journey. Thanks to the parents for letting them play & I promise we will work on resilience in training next season!
