We were into action on with a Twenty20 match on the first Sunday, having managed to squeeze in one Friday training session beforehand. Magic and Phoenix had been drawn in the same league, with the two U10s teams split across the other two divisions. Heaton Mersey opened with five successive wins, only coming unstuck against Bramhall in the High Peak league.
Sunday 27th April 2025: Didsbury Tigers 50/9 (20) lost to Heaton Mersey Phoenix 123/4 (20) by 73 runs – South Manchester league T20 (Scorecard)
A resounding victory for Mersey in the first game of the season.
The away side won the toss and captain Will decide to bat first on a pristine-looking pitch in glorious spring sunshine. After a tricky start for Mersey, where the home team’s opening bowlers bowled accurately with a fair amount of swing, Mersey started to accumulate runs nicely. A 52-run partnership between Thomas L and Leo cemented the base of the innings.
Some lovely strokeplay by Thomas in particular resulted in seven boundaries from the pair and put the home side on the back foot. Gregory then played some stylish legside shots and scored at an impressive strike rate of 130. Excellent late runs from Charlie with strong running between the wickets resulted in Mersey scoring a strong total of 123/4 off their twenty overs.
Top scorers were Gregory, with 26 not out (off 20 balls) including 4 fours, Thomas L, with 25 not out (off 30 balls) including 4 fours, and Charlie, with 21 not out (off 19 balls) with 2 boundaries. There was also a nice cameo of 11 off 7 balls from U10 Thomas C to boost the innings.
The home side then batted and were immediately blitzed by Gregory’s fast and accurate bowling with two wickets in his first two overs (and in fact in two successive balls in his first over, securing two golden ducks). The probing bowling continued, with wickets for Finn K (2 for 3), Leo (2 for 2) and Finlay (3 for 2). The ground fielding and catching were excellent and the home side did not get a sniff of victory, as they collapsed from 35-3 to 37-8 in the space of two overs.
A superb victory for Mersey against a traditionally formidable opponent (albeit it wasn’t their full-strength team) in this competition, which is considered the strongest in this age group.
Friday 2nd May 2025: Woodford 235 (67/8 off 16) lost to Heaton Mersey Magic 256 (84/7 off 16) by 21 runs – High Peak league pairs (Scorecard)
A fantastic opening match of the season saw Mersey Magic U11 take a well-deserved away victory against Woodford on a beautiful Friday evening.
Winning the coin toss, Mersey elected to bowl first and what a fantastic first over by match captain Zane it was, bowling five dots and taking a wicket, helped by fearless wicket-keeping by Charlie, who allowed no bowls to pass his trusty hands.
Partnering Zane, debutant Paddy took a wicket which settled his nerves. Well done Paddy!! Next to bowl, Arno delivered mostly dot balls which kept the opponents score low and Joey supported with a much-improved second over, conceding only three runs.
Harry and Tom partnered magnificently, taking three wickets as a pair and providing a maiden over. Closing the bowling, Charlie and debutant Archie surprised Woodford with their pace and incredible accuracy, conceding only seven runs in the four overs.
To back up the solid bowling performance, Woodford were provided very few extras from Mersey with no overthrows and only a handful of byes. This proved to be pivotal in the win.
It didn't take Mersey long to manufacture the glorious sound of knocking Willow, with plenty of entertainment provided to the travelling fans who in turn showed their support and encouragement in applause. The notable batting performance was provided by Charlie, with a couple of magnificently struck fours.
Mersey used their experience well and supplemented the batting by crafting runs from Woodford fielding errors. This knowledge will pay dividends in future matches where scorelines are closer.
Friday 2nd May 2025: Heaton Mersey Phoenix 300 (108/2 off 16) beat North East Cheshire Hurricanes 251 (83/8 off 16) by 49 runs – High Peak league pairs (Scorecard)
A classic chaotic Friday of softball cricket training waves, loud music blaring, and parents focusing on drinking while their kids run riot, having scant regard for the boundary of the hard ball game that Mersey Phoenix were playing. Trying to explain the dangers of a high-density ball travelling at pace to a two-year-old would be tricky at the best of times, but trying to do this while scoring on the app for the first since last summer made it particularly challenging. (That’s before even talking about Jeffers, as umpire, just about controlling his temper when politely asking a wine-glass carrying interloper to remove herself from the playing area.)
Anyway, it was Phoenix’s first game of the High Peak league as we aim to defend our title (one of four teams we have trying for this across the two year groups). Captain George won the toss and elected to field. It didn’t take long for George to find his rhythm – whilst his second ball went for wides, his sixth crashed into the stumps. It was a strong opening bowling effort, with George and Emmet picking up two wickets apiece (all bowled), leaving NEC stuck at 200 after 4 overs.
The visitors’ second pair were more dominating, helped by four overthrows and a dropped catch (symptomatic of some sloppy fielding throughout by Phoenix), putting on 34 without losing a wicket. The rest of the bowling was tight, with Ollie getting a wicket (bowled) and Gregory two (bowled and top-edged to the keeper, well caught by Emmet), whilst Jake conceded just one run and Harley two.
That left NEC on 79/7 (boosted by their batsmen’s excellent running between the wickets), equivalent to a net score of 251. That would typically be not far off par, but the chase was never really in doubt. Mirroring his bowling, George took a little while to get going, as he was bowled first ball, but he soon got his eye in and hit three lovely fours in his 14.
There was only one other wicket lost (a run-out), with the standout being Jake’s 24 off just 11 balls, including 5 fours, with some sumptuous timing through midwicket in particular. Harvey batted and ran with authority, and Greogry and Harley hit three fours between them. A convincing win to start the campaign.
Sunday 4th May 2025: Heaton Mersey Phoenix 141/4 (20) beat Cheadle 43 all out (15.5) by 98 runs – South Manchester league T20 (Scorecard)
A second convincing win and fantastic team performance in this league.
The away side were a player short but won the toss and elected to field. After the umpire changed out of his distracting red hoodie, the opening batters for Mersey fell for two early wickets with some excellent bowling from Cheadle’s star players. Leo and Will at 3 and 4 steadied the ship and soon began to accumulate nicely. Both went on to retire (Leo 25 off 17 balls including two 4s and one 6; Will 27 off 29 balls including three 4s). Max (18 off 30 including two 4s) and Finn (20 off 28 including one 4 and one 6) later put together an excellent partnership of 38, leaving an imposing total of 141 (helped by some loose fielding from the opposition).
In the field, Mersey were excellent, with great communication, stops and catches supporting the bowlers who all got through their overs incredibly economically. Despite being offered the opportunity to re-play one of their batters, Cheadle shook hands after all their batters were out in the 15th over. Particular bowling mentions to U10 Thomas Cliff’s maiden, and wickets from Jake, Will, Max (2), Miles and Finn (2), the latter continuing his multiple wickets in an over from last week!
A pleasure to watch, well done Mersey.
Tuesday 6th May 2025: Heaton Mersey Phoenix 330 (150/5 off 16) beat Alderley Edge 252 (96/11 off 16) by 78 runs – High Peak league pairs (Scorecard)
We gathered once more at Green Lane for the latest in the series of “starting off pleasant, ending up freezing” evenings. Alderley Edge were our visitors in the High Peak league but we had only managed to find seven willing volunteers for our team, i.e. we were a player short, so there was some debate about how that would play out. Captain Thomas won the toss and elected to bowl first, mainly, it seemed, because he’d heard the opposition say that they wanted to bowl first.
A random 11-year-old called Sam, who had been practicing lacrosse, offered to be a spare fielder (he said he was a Cheshire player), and the opposition were fine with this. He requested a bowl, to which I declined, and it even got to the stage where his dad came onto the field to ask if he could bowl or bat. I again declined and so Sam left, a bit fed up. Sorry, but a random person in the right age category having a field is fine, batting and bowling is not! The opposition kindly lent us a fielder for the last four overs, although he wasn’t entirely focused on doing his best at all times (at one point he seemed to be man-marking Leo in the field!).
Anyway, the actual action. They started with two debutants (I think) and George, who bowled at rapid speed, and Miles claimed three wickets between them, with the former getting 2-2 and Miles opening with a, er, nosebleed. Will and Leo drew the short straw of bowling against the best batting pair, as they smeared it around on a fast outfield, although Leo was unlucky not to get a wicket as there was a dropped catch. All the while, our patched-up fielding side was rendered sparser by random toilet breaks.
Gregory then bowled tightly and Matty a little erratically, but both picked up a wicket, before Thomas put on a star show for the final pairing. There was some debate over who would bowl the extra overs. The home team were keen to have George and Gregory bowling, whilst Leo was at pains to point out that it was the opposition’s choice. I discussed all of this openly with the opposition, who were pretty relaxed about the whole affair. They jokingly said “not George”, but I thought that was fair to take at face value, so we went with Gregory and Will.
But it needn’t have mattered as Thomas bowled with unerring accuracy, hitting the stumps three times in his first over and a fourth time in his second. Will chipped in with a wicket too, as Alderley Edge stuttered to 252 (96 for 11) having at one point threatened to post a fair bit more than that (their first and last pairs were in the negative on a net basis).
Whether it would be a challenging target was answered emphatically by George, who smashed an astonishing drive over cover off his first ball, and the second of the innings. He continued to find the boundary at will, and at one point was 25 off just 7 balls. The adrenaline was too much and he was out first ball, but the damage was undoubtedly done. It was a whirlwind 47-3 off the first four overs, a net score of 235. That included an all-run four due to multiple overthrows, albeit the second run was a bit dicey.
Leo continued the momentum, with a number of boundaries behind square (one inches away from reaching it on the full), using the bounce and pace of the bowlers. Will found the boundary too, as his timing came good in time. It was a less explosive partnership but they had put on 53 for the loss of just wicket (Leo, like George, trying to smash a straight one across the line). At the halfway stage, we were 100-4, or 284, an 32 runs ahead. A victory was surely assured.
Gregory partnered Matty and the running instantly became more entertaining, with Matty casually jogging runs or standing steadfast at one end. It was fair to play it safe, though. The lack of running slowed the scoring rate, although Gregory hit two fours in the last over of the partnership before falling to the same type of shot as Leo and George.
Our own Sam (White) had turned up to watch and the opposition were perfectly happy for him to take the last pair with Thomas. They played solidly in the slightly gloomy light, keeping their wickets intact and with Thomas hitting three fours, they ended up scoring 34 runs for no wickets, with the team score an impressive 150/5 off the 16 overs, or net of 330. That gave us a 78-run, two Phoenix wins in the High Peak league and five wins out of five for the Mersey U11s.
The opposition, it must be said, were a pleasure to play against, and were, as can be seen from the above, very accommodating throughout. It was a first time umpiring and scoring for them, so I did a bit of coaching for that, as well as umpiring and scoring myself. All part of the fun!
Wednesday 7th May 2025: Heaton Mersey Magic 218 (70/13 off 16) lost to Bramhall Bees 273 (97/6 off 16) by 55 runs – High Peak league pairs (Scorecard)
Unfortunately, Magic lost to Bramhall tonight, with Magic scoring 70/13 (net score 218) and Bramhall 97/6 (273). The big difference was the accuracy of Bramhall’s bowling. All 13 of their wickets were directly bowled. Despite this, the Magic team remained in high spirits throughout the match with lots of talking and encouragement in the field.
Key highlights were Charlie scoring four 4s in one over, Harry getting a wicket and a run-out, Zane grabbing two wickets, Tom’s amazing catch and Charlie with 1 wicket and top fielding. Onwards to the next match against Bredbury St Marks next week.
