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The very much back-end loaded High Peak season was rapidly reaching a denouement, with four group games in five days (which would have been five games had Romiley not conceded to Magic). The second week of this phase saw Phoenix play in the High Peak semi-final. How would they fare…?
Tuesday 8th July 2025: Romiley Wyverns 237 (65/7 off 16) lost to Heaton Mersey Phoenix 307 (127/5 off 16) by 70 runs – High Peak pairs league (Scorecard)
Romiley batted first on a (yet another) sunny evening (after captain Leo won the toss, I think), with Leo and Will opening the bowling, with Leo striking in his first over with a run-out following shortly afterwards. Whilst one of their openers played some nice fours, they were restricted to a net score of 14. The scoreboard continued to tick along with second pair without them ever getting away, and then Gregory ripped through the third pair, with his first 8 balls going dot-wicket-dot-wicket-dot-wicket-dot-wicket. Another run-out during Miles’ bowling meant that the third pair scored -10 and the opposition didn’t really recover, getting to a net score of 237.
The batting response was strong albeit mixed in with some cross-batted swipes, slightly ropey running between the wickets (although we avoided any run-outs) and chipping the ball in the air. Jake played a commanding innings, scoring 22 (still yet to be out in pairs cricket this season), while Sam scored 19 and George 16. Gregory managed to get out twice to slow pies down the legside in identical fashion, caught behind, having struck a couple of lovely fours (his first ball cover drive probably being the shot of the day).
Mersey got up to 307, winning by 70 runs and maintaining their unbeaten record. Another impressive performance but some things to work on.
Tuesday 8th July 2025: Stockport Blues 284 (92/2 off 16) beat Heaton Mersey Magic 239 (75/9 off 16) by 45 runs – High Peak pairs league (Scorecard)
The evening started in comedy fashion, with both teams waiting at their home grounds awaiting the arrival of the opposition! Eventually, Stockport arrived at HMV about half an hour late. It was a lovely sunny evening in Heaton Mersey, perfect for a game of cricket.
Magic only had 6 players for their batting innings but Charlie bolstered the bowling attack after arriving later, straight from his Y6 production.
Mersey Magic (75 runs for 9 wickets: net score 239)
A combination of tight Stockport bowling, a bouncy astroturf wicket and a slow outfield meant that runs were hard to come by for Magic, but a flurry of boundaries from Huzaifah at the end made the score defendable.
Stockport CC (92 runs for 2 wickets: net score 284)
Magic bowled well and at times looked like we may defend the target but a couple of stronger Stockport batters pushed them ahead of the required run rate and Stockport ended up with reasonably comfortable 45-run victory. Notable mentions: wickets for Arno & Charlie, and economical bowling from Max & Finn.
Thanks to Tom for scoring and to Stockport for lending us a “fielder”!
Wednesday 9th July 2025: Heaton Mersey Magic 226 (70/11 off 16) lost to Alderley Edge 267 (91/6 off 16) by 41 runs – High Peak pairs league (Scorecard)
It was another battling performance from Heaton Mersey Magic against a quality Alderley Edge team. With each team only having 7 players, Magic won the toss and elected to bowl first. With consistent bowling and great teamwork in the field, Magic worked hard to restrict Alderley Edge’s scoring. Highlights were: wicket and catch from Charlie, wicket from Huzaifah’s first ball, 2 wickets and a run out from Finlay and a wicket from Tom.
Magic went into bat confident of chasing down Alderley Edge’s total. They faced a strong bowling attack and fielding team. There were 4s from Charlie and Huzaifah, with the latter coming out as the top scorer. Magic kept going but unfortunately fell short of the target.
Another great team performance to end the Magic High Peak campaign against the team who finished 2nd in the league. The Magic team have made huge progress this season with every player improving massively.
Friday 11th July 2025: Stockport Blues 267 (95/7 off 16) lost to Heaton Mersey Phoenix 273 (101/7 off 16) Magic 226 (70/11 off 16) by 6 runs – High Peak pairs league (Scorecard)
Having had Stockport insist this fixture was swapped from the Thursday to the Friday, we only managed to get 7 players together, with Anna stuck in heavy traffic with two of them close to the start of play. Captain Jake, in his last game before jetting to Tenerife, won the toss and elected to field. George got us off to a great start, with two wicket-maidens, as Stockport’s end-of-over score oscillated between 197 and 204.
Their middle order put on some decent runs, helped by our lack of numbers in the field (as well as hand injuries and a nosebleed), and at one point they were heading for a target of perhaps around 290, but Thomas, determined after getting knocked around a little bit in his first two overs, struck twice in an over.
The second of these involved the batter walking into stumps after taking evasive action to a ball on the legside, the first case of hit wicket I have seen at this level. Leo then took two wickets (switching from spin to pace and back again) to pull them back to a chaseable 267.
George and Jake got Mersey off to a great start, putting us on 236 after the first pair. Gregory, new bat in hand, produced three sumptuous cover drives that went for four, while Thomas hit four boundaries in his knock, but our scoring rate then slowed. Nevertheless, we went into the last pair on 272, five runs ahead.
Matty played out a maiden before their best bowler bowled Matty and Jake in successive balls to leave us behind, at 264. However, Jake hit the hat-trick ball for four before taking a single off the last ball. He helped himself to two fours in the next over, ultimately top-scoring with 29 off 28 balls, leaving us 10 runs ahead in the last over. Matty was bowled by their fast bowler with three balls to go, but Jake activated T20 opener mode and brought out lovely defensive shots for the next two balls.
That left us winning by 6 runs against a tough opposition (easily our toughest so far in this division) and a good test ahead of the semi-final against Bollington on Monday. Again, things to work on but a gritty performance given we have not seriously been challenged in the High Peak league this season.
Monday 14th July 2025: Heaton Mersey Phoenix 308 (140/8) beat Bollington 239 (83/11) by 69 runs – High Peak play-off semi-final (Scorecard)
The High Peak draw had been made in advance, so once we knew we had guaranteed top spot (almost certainly when Stockport beat Alderley Edge but confirmed when we defeated Romiley), Anna started the arduous process of agreeing the date of the semi-final fixture with Bollington, for which we had been drawn at home. A big stumbling block was the unavailability of pitch availability at Heaton Mersey and so we had to switch it to Bollington, who were more than willing to host (I expect!).
We arrived on a largely sunny evening in dribs and drabs, having grappled with the inevitable traffic to get there, and Gregory was chosen as captain mostly because he was one of the few to have arrived in time for the toss. Gregory called correctly and chose to bowl first, now very much our favoured approach, particularly when want to see how an unfamiliar pitch plays first.
I had selected pairs for batting (with some input), but these would not necessarily translate into the bowling pairs as we tried to get better matches up given Bollington’s potentially formidable batting line-up. Nevertheless, we went for the first pair to bowl the opening overs, with George bowling with fearsome pace and bounce to unsettle their openers.
Ian, umpiring and selecting the bowlers perfectly, went with Thomas in the third over before Emmet bowled a second, all of the bowlers keeping it tight. They had only scored 14 runs in four overs before an unwise attempt at a run ended in failure. Net score after 4 overs: 210.
Leo’s opening ball against one of their second pair was elegantly dispatched down the ground, prompting an immediate field change, and Leo recovered well to bowl the same batsman attempting the shot later in the opener. However, the warning shots had been fired and back came George, followed by Will and Gregory, the latter pair both bowling the same batsman, while another crazy run ended in a run-out. Two sets of four byes boosted their score (I said to the scorer: “I wish I had a pound for every time our umpire told our backstop to stay on the boundary) but the clatter of wickets meant that their net score after 8 overs was only 221.
Our shock and awe tactics were working well, as the ball often fizzed through with plenty of carry to Sam, our keeper, with some variable bounce. Sam suffered a finger injury mid-innings while keeping but, after a brief break, bravely carried on. Their scorer asked if we had any slow bowlers as fast bowler replaced fast bowler: I replied that we did have a spinner.
Bollington’s third pair doubled down on the dodgy running, twice getting run out, while Will and Harvey picked up wickets, and they edged up to just 225 after 12 overs. The coup de grace was George striking twice in the 15th over and in the end they posted a very chaseable score of 239, which could have been much lower but for a few mis-fields on the boundary.
In response, whilst Emmet was bowled in the second over, both batters hit a number of fours. One, from George, was a gigantic shot over the bowler that landed very close to the boundary. The Mersey players and parents signalled a six but their fielders signalled four, which the umpire ultimately gave. The Bollington parents were convinced that because it hit the grass it must be a four (the boundary was very close to the path).
When George followed up the next over with an even bigger hit, which clattered back off the fence in front of the stream, Will cheekily shouted “was that a four?” to which I heard on of the opposition parents saying “that was a bit rude”. I chuckled. Our excellent progress, 230 after three overs, was checked slightly by one of their bowlers bowling metronomically and hitting the stumps of both openers in successive balls (no hat-trick, thankfully).
Leo and Harvey scored some good runs, both hitting a pair of fours, although three lost wickets kept is in check. We were, however, almost level at the halfway point. Only an utter capitulation could stop us now, so it was reassuring to have Will and Gregory striding in as third pair. Their running between the wickets was excellent, and they hit the boundary with regularity. Gregory hit 20 runs, including a six clearing the fielder at midwicket, without losing a wicket. He did hit his own stumps at one point, but only in reaction to trying to get his bat on a beamer, which was correctly given a no-ball. That it hit their keeper in the stomach on the full was convincing evidence for that.
Will, meanwhile, hit a flurry of boundaries in the last over to take his score to 24, which coupled with two wickets led to Ian giving him the man-of-the-match award. He was unluckily bowled by a grubber with the final ball of the innings but the damage had most assuredly been done. We were on 282 with four overs to go. Thomas and Sam played sensibly, with the latter hitting four fours on the way to 19. In the end, we pushed our score up to 308, a comfortable win by 69 runs.
That put is into the High Peak final for the third year running, where we will face Cheadle Hulme Ladybridge, who comfortable dispatched Lindow in the other semi-final. It was an excellent all-round performance.