Our established pattern continued: getting beaten on a Sunday morning in the South Manchester T20 Division 1 but bouncing back in the High Peak pairs games on weekday evenings. This fortnight also featured another Phoenix vs Magic derby (following on from last year’s High Peak semi-final clash), whilst a Magic match against Alderley Edge was postponed due to pitch availability (kicked off by a senior team!).
Sunday 15th June 2025: Urmston 106/4 (20) beat Heaton Mersey Phoenix 71/9 (16.4) by 35 runs – South Manchester T20 league (Scorecard)
Mersey won the toss and elected to field on a day where overhead conditions varied by the minute from scorching sun to muggy cloud. George and Gregory opened with two tidy overs, followed by Will with a wicket in the second. Bowling continued to be tight, although some byes and mis-fields leaked runs to the home side.
Thomas, Jake and Leo took a further wicket a piece, with Jake taking a catch for Thomas’ wicket and Sam executing a very smart stumping from behind the stumps for Leo’s. Mersey were extremely unlucky with three strong run-out chances judged to have been in by the square leg umpire. However, restricting this strong Urmston side to close to 100 runs at innings change could be considered an impressive achievement and gave Mersey an opportunity.
In the batting, we opened at a good rate, but despite several players getting a start against high quality bowling, lost wickets at a steady pace. We were close to the scoring rate throughout (check the worm on play cricket!) but ran out of batters, not helped by losing a player to illness. The team should be proud of themselves for competing at this level. We always knew Division 1 would be difficult and on another day this result could have gone the other way.
Monday 16th June 2025: Heaton Mersey Phoenix 305 (117/3 off 16) beat Bredbury St Marks 201 (53/13 off 16) by 104 runs – High Peak pairs league (Scorecard)
I arrived early to set up the pitch and an U9 was the first of the opposition to turn up. It was to be his first hardball game – he was playing in the team as a couple of U11s were playing for the U13s tonight. Ill-timed, I thought, given the strength of our team.
Captain Harvey won the toss (first one won for a while!) and chose to bowl first, on a glorious sunny evening. George bowled extremely tightly, with two maidens (although he pleaded for his last delivery to be a wide so that he could get another go), while Jake picked up wicket, one of many to hit the stumps. Will continued where George left off, with another pair of maidens, while Harvey bowled a lovely line, to be rewarded with two wickets.
Our sole spinner, Leo, then stepped up and kept the bowlers guessing with his spin, bowling two off the pads and grabbing a caught and bowled just inches off the pitch. His bowling partner, Harley, also chipped in with a wicket. Gregory joined in the action with two wickets in two balls, with his hat-trick ball fizzing past both bat and off stump.
All the while, the fielding was very sharp, albeit taking advantage of some questionable running, with four run-outs (Emmet scoring a direct hit at the striker’s end from backstop, with George doing similar but pinging down the stumps at the non-striker’s end, being the two most notable). That left Bredbury on 53/13, or a net score of 201. Two runs to win.
Jake and George struggled initially to find their timing, but Jake hit a nice square drive for four while George connected with a big six over midwicket. They put on 22 for the first pair, without losing a wicket. Harvey found some lovely timing, striking three fours, with Will hitting one. The second pair also put on 22, again for no wicket.
Leo then blasted 37 runs, taking advantage of some buffet bowling, although his eyes lit up once too often as he danced down the wicket and was bowled, following Harley being bowled to have another hat-trick ball, which was kept out by Harley. Emmet and Gregory then put the cherry on the cake, with 15 runs off the last over. Gregory was bowled off a double bouncer, which was fairly (but perhaps fortunately) called by the umpire as a no-ball, so earned a reprieve.
That put Mersey on 117/3, or a net score of 305, winning by 104 runs and putting them back to the top of the table. Bredbury’s coach, who was amicable throughout, complimented our bowling as being the best they have faced this season, and the attitude of the opposition was positive all through the match. It was a pleasant match, if not much of a contest – we could do with some of this world-beating attitude on a Sunday morning!
Sunday 22nd June 2025: Heaton Mersey Phoenix 127/5 (20) lost to Brooklands 138/7 (20) by 11 runs – South Manchester T20 league (Scorecard)
Changeable weather conditions greeted us on a first Sunday morning visit to Heaton Mersey Village, in a rematch of our final group game (which was a close, low-scoring match) against Brooklands. Jake, the captain, lost the toss but the opposition thankfully opted to bat (we would have chosen to field this time, for psychological reasons).
We pegged them back early, with Gregory striking in the second over, a low full toss being well caught by George at mid-off (just before the ball was bowled, Thomas had run all the way from backstop to urge Gregory to pitch it up). In the fourth over, Thomas found immaculate line and length to hit the stumps with consecutive batters in the last two balls of his over, finding a bit of movement against the left hander in particular. That left them at 20-3 and struggling. However, one of their strong batters shored things up, retiring on 25 not out.
They reached 62 in the 10th over but then Harry struck. His first wicket was, as he might admit, off not one of his best deliveries. It was wide of off stump and the batsman eagerly climbed into it, but found Jake at short cover, diving to his left, goalkeeper style, and plucking the missile out of the air. A full ball later in the over bowled the next batsman to leave Brooklands 63-5 at the halfway stage.
Harvey then claimed a wicket, well caught by Finn K at point, before Thomas returned, hitting the stumps for a third time, securing a hat-trick, with the second and third wickets separated by 9 overs. But some late order resistance from Brooklands (their number 10 smashed 26 off 14 balls) and some slightly wayward bowling (the extras mounted) meant that they scored 138 off the full 20 overs, a competitive total on what was a strong batting track. Their running between the wickets throughout was particularly strong and probably pushed the score up by 10 to 20 runs.
Phil said to me that he thought it was chaseable, but it’s fair to say that I did not quite share that view! Leo had offered to replace Thomas at the top of the order but unfortunately was yorked by their opening bowler, so Thomas came in pretty early anyway. The shot that pleased me most was an immaculate forward defensive he played early on. We have tried to instil the need to play each ball on its merits and this was the best example of that.
Thomas soon found his rhythm, hitting five fours and retiring on 27 off 19 balls. Jake battled well at the other end, carrying on after getting hit on the foot in a painful blow. Gregory continued the scoring, taking advantage of any short-pitched bowling, hitting three fours and a six (a pull shot over my head at square leg). He reached 25 and retired (for the third time this season), but not before George had come in, following Jake’s dismissal for a battling 11), to crack 26 not out off 18 balls and retire. That meant 3-4-5 had all retired, an impressive performance, and all the while maintaining the required run rate (if not a bit above).
We got to 112-2 (although in reality for five given the retirements) off 16 overs, needing 27 to win off 24 balls, but the opposition bowled tightly and overs spare from some of their better bowlers, whilst we lacked a bit of firepower to keep up the required run rate, although Finn K (an U10) dug in for a solid 8 not out. In the end, we finished 11 runs short, but for much of it, it was an exciting run chase. We batted really well having bowled and fielded pretty solid against a very good team (they have won 14 matches and lost 2 across the Cheshire and South Manchester leagues this season).
Wednesday 25th June 2025: Heaton Mersey Magic 190 (58/17 off 16) lost to Heaton Mersey Phoenix 286 (102/4 off 16) by 96 runs – High Peak pairs league (Scorecard)
A sunny evening greeted us for the Heaton Mersey derby, as both teams warmed up by messing around together with an incrediball and the parents’ eyes lit up at the sight of the bar being open. The notional home side, Magic, won the toss and decided to bowl first. After some chaotic pairs choosing, Gregory and Ollie M walked out to face some tight bowling from Finn and Tom – in fact, both had caught and bowled chances off the respective openers, but weren’t quite able to hold on.
Magic’s bowling and fielding was strong throughout, never letting the Phoenix batsmen get away. There were wickets for Joey and Max, while Sam was victim to Paddy’s Mankad (Sam had been warned!) and a subsequent run-out. The steady accumulation of runs throughout the innings (albeit with no standout scores) meant that Phoenix reached 102 for the loss of those 4 wickets, or a net score of 286.
In keeping Phoenix to that total, Magic had done better than other opposing teams, showing the strength and depth across the Mersey U11s squad. It was also a testament to the strong performance in the field by Magic, with a special mention to Finn and Max behind the stumps, who both kept excellently (just 1 bye conceded in the whole innings).
In response, Magic’s batting was solid but ultimately what cost them was the running between the wickets, as Phoenix were predatory in the field, with rocket arms (although sometimes too rocket – a spell of a few balls saw both a 5 and a 6 recorded due to overthrows), including Gregory throwing down the stumps from backstop twice whilst on his knees. I make it that there were 9 run-outs, so definitely something to work on in training.
Archie top scored in the match with 19, playing some great shots, while Joey played two elegant cover drives for four, including one which cleared cover completely, and Finn played some fine defensive shots in the face of fast bowling when opening the innings. For Phoenix, Harley, Miles and Ollie R all picked up two wickets apiece. In the end, the target was out of reach and Magic faded a little. Despite that, they did themselves proud with lots of positives, which they can hopefully take into the remaining fixtures (of which there are 6 to play in the next two weeks, such is the scheduling craziness after those early season cancellations!).
Thanks to Paul and Rick for umpiring, and Tom for grappling with the scoring app (it messed up the Phoenix batting scorecard for some reason, but I have edited it).
Friday 27th June 2025: Woodford 203 (39/9 off 16) lost to Heaton Mersey Phoenix 325 (141/4 off 16) by 122 runs – High Peak pairs league (Scorecard)
Another great team performance from Phoenix, from top to bottom, securing a 122 run win and making it 7 wins out of 7. We need 2 more wins out of the last 3 games to more or less guarantee finishing top.
There was some sloppiness towards the end because it was perhaps getting a bit too easy and they got a bit bored/complacent.
However, they were once again soooo positive in the field, with lots of fun and energy. There was great fielding (until the last couple of overs) and some deadly bowling! The opposition could hardly get off the mark
The batting was really strong again (Jake top scored with 24, after hitting his final three balls for four, while George was next with 22) and I would love to see some of that in the T20 matches! They also started their suicide runs again!! Monkeys! (Although it was there was only one run-out, and that was early on, with a great direct hit from cover from the opposition.)
Phoenix are such a strong team and there are some great things to come for them, as long as they get challenged!
Highlights for me were Gregory & Jake’s bowling (it was relentless – Gregory took 3 wickets for no runs conceded off the bat, while Jake took 1-5), Sam’s keeping (he was everywhere he needed to be, with only 4 byes conceded) and Miles (who says he can’t bat but hit two excellently placed 4s). All the boys were excellent tonight, though, and deserve a bow.
