A week against tougher opponents saw a double Friday loss but a comfortable win in the High Peak league and another cup concession as the Langley Lobsters were unable to get enough crustaceans, sorry players, together.
Monday 15th June 2026: High Peak U13s league T20 (Division Bollin)
Alderley Edge (HP) 107 all out (19.2) lost to Heaton Mersey Phoenix 108/1 (20) by 9 wickets (Scorecard)
John had built up to this match, which he had nicknamed the Ashling Cup due to the presence of our coach at Alderley Edge Cricket Club. Given the self-generated grudge nature of the match, we went in reasonably strong against a team which had been doing well this season (both teams had won four and lost one at this point).
The picturesque away ground was also a place to celebrity spot, with Rich picking out Lancashire legend Paul Allott and their scorer pointing out that Jack Cork, a former Burnley midfielder and father to one of the players, was also present. The hosts won the toss and elected to bat, which is probably what we would have done on the basis of giving as many of the team a chance as possible.
We opened the bowling with our trio of U12 fast bowlers, Jake, Gregory and Will, rotating the first six overs between them. All bowled nice and full, with Jake and Will hitting the stumps of their opener and number three respectively. However, the home side counter-attacked well, using the pace of the ball to find the boundary a number of times on what was a fast outfield, with relatively short boundaries.
It was quite a while before the next wicket as they had two batters retiring on 25, but then Sam struck to remove one of the new batters in, with a clear nick behind. The home side pushed on again, reaching 100/3 in the 17th over.
However, the spin twins of Sam (bringing himself on again due to a shin injury to Liam, suffered when bravely stopped a well-hit shot) and Huzaifah got hold of the innings. Sam induced a smashed shot straight to him, which he effortlessly caught (Shazil had dropped a mishit return drive a couple of overs before, much to his annoyance), before bowling the next batter first ball. The hat-trick ball was, alas, defended.
Huzaifah then tormented the lower order with slow, well-flighted, turning deliveries. First, Adam snaffled a catch in his customary position at short cover (although he had not quite been at his best before then), while the next batter came dancing down to be well stumped by Billy. Again, though, the hat-trick was denied. In the last over, the batters attempted two runs to rocket arm Gregory at back stop and the striker was well short as Billy whipped off the bails. An earlier direct hit from Gregory was concluded to be not out by the home umpire at square leg, a view that was not shared by all (not that it would have made much difference to the innings score). A special mention to Jake for commitment to, as he threw himself into a desperation dive on the boundary rope near the scorers. It wasn’t successful but he did the absolute best he could.
Alderley Edge ended up on 107 all out in the final over, which was perhaps a total that some thought was a bit higher than they had expected to be scored and could prove a challenge. Our openers had other ideas, though. After a play and miss in the first over, Adam eventually found his timing with a crunching four past the bowler. Harrison, meanwhile, playing in his first match of the season due to other sporting commitments, was more circumspect, and a little shaky in the running, sending an already-committed Adam back on a number of occasions, an about-turn that was not always the easiest to execute.
However, Harrison soon got in the groove, finding the boundary with well-timed square drives, before Adam muscled the ball away with a six over the bowler’s head, planting his size fourteen down the pitch and swinging through the line. The big hitting continued, as Adam hit three more sixes in the following three overs, with one of them threatening the oblivious tennis watchers. (A sign did warn people when entering the car park that there was a cricket match on, but they probably have good healthcare so maybe it’s fine.)
Adam’s fourth six had him retiring on 30 off just 13 balls, and that brought the similarly-tall Shazil to the crease. He played foil to Harrison for a short while, as the latter hit two more crisp fours to retire on 28 off 24 balls with five fours in all. Stan was undone by a lovely flighted leg-spin delivery, but Sam joined Shazil and the power ramped up once more, as Sam hit his second ball for six (landing in a bush), while another six disappeared over the building and into someone’s garden. They may be used to this, we supposed. Shazil hit three fours in one over, finding good timing down to fine leg, and suddenly that was that. We had reached the total for one wicket down and within 11 overs.
Their scorer took it very well, and actually was glad they had somewhat of a challenge. Their team was made up of Y7 players so it was perhaps not a contest, but the scorer explained to the team that they could definitely learn from this, including pitching the ball up (short balls were being dispatched easily, although to be fair, overpitched balls were disappearing too). Alderley Edge had some classy batters but their bowling wasn’t as strong, which meant ultimately that the run chase was never in doubt.
Huzaifah got player/moment(s) of the match for his two wickets in two balls.
Friday 19th June 2026: South Manchester U13s league T20 (Division 1)
Heaton Mersey U13s 85 all out (20) lost to Whalley Range Lions 88/6 (16.5) by 4 wickets (Scorecard)
It was a tough defeat in a high quality encounter at HMV last night. Choosing to bat first, Mersey struggled early as excellent, accurate, quick bowling meant every ball was a challenge. The boys battled hard but the stumps were crashed into and the wickets fell regularly.
Stan anchored the innings with a well-made 18 with a couple of pull shots for 4. Felix came in and played positively and gave us some momentum with a rapid 21, including a six and 2 fours. Some excellent running between the wickets at the end got us to a competitive total, but it was perhaps 20 runs short.
As always, quick accurate bowling from Shazil and Naeem made Whalley Range have to work for their runs as they made an equally slow start. Shawaiz with 3 for 6 and Harrison with 2 outstanding overs and 1 for 3 were the stand-outs.
Arjo had a strong night in the field with a wonderful steepling catch and a bowled wicket. Ground fielding was excellent including a run out (by Adam). Sam H let nothing through behind the stumps.
Unfortunately, we were just slightly short in the runs and Whalley Range passed our total. It was a fantastic game to watch between two outstanding sides. And that was our first defeat at Heaton Mersey Village this season.
Friday 19th June 2026: South Manchester U13s league T20 (Division 3)
Timperley Falcons 134/6 (20) beat Heaton Mersey U12s 108/7 (20) by 26 runs (Scorecard)
Our next Friday night game against effectively Timperley’s second team, with a mixture of Y6, Y7 and Y8 players, while we were missing some Y7 first-teamers due to an ill-timed inset day. Captain George won the toss and, as is our preference, elected to bowl first.
My research had suggested they had a strong opener, and he did not disappoint from that perspective, smashed four fours and two sixes (both off Leo full tosses), helped by a fast outfield and relatively short boundaries, retiring on 31 off just 19 balls. With Ollie M struggling to deal with our fast bowling and conceding some byes, Timperley got off to a fast start and were 57/0 after 7 overs.
Havery, however, induced a top edge from the other opener and Ollie M ran and dived full length to snaffle the chance well. Finlay then flighted his legspin, with the batter succeeding only in finding the safe hands of Jake at cover. When Gregory, bowling as rapidly as he had all season, trimmed the leg bail of their number five, they were 88/3 after 13 overs and we hoped we might restrict them to something vaguely chaseable.
But the runs, and extras, kept coming and the total kept building. Finlay struck in the penultimate over, with another flighted ball too tempting for one of their set batters, and the stumps were broken, before Lucas took a smart caught and bowled in the final over before teaming up with Ollie for a run out off the last ball. Timperley had scored 134/6 off their 20 overs.
We would need to start well to chase this down, but we lost both openers in the first two overs, denting our chances significantly. Leo found the pace of the pitch, favouring a legside slog sweep (one of which went for six, which Leo informed Ian was his first six of the season) or pull shots off his hip, but George struggling to find his timing and the pressure built. Their star batsman was also a wily bowler, looping up spin which George unluckily played on and then, after Evan hit a four, he was bemused by a ball that seemed to stop (and turn( in the pitch.
Gregory came in and was also struggling to find his touch, but Leo continued accumulating and, with a retirement in sight, he played across the line and had his stumps clattered (and was out for 27 off 29 balls). Harvey and Gregory started building their partnership with some good running, before Harvey was unlucky as a defended yorker dribbled under his bat and just did enough to dislodge the bails. His bat was duly lobbed into his kit in frustration.
Lucas, our other U11 in the match, showed the way with his timing, clipping a full toss for four through legside second ball. Gregory and Lucas kept up the excellent running and then, after another four from Lucas, Gregory finally found some timing with a four of his own. They kept the run rate going well but the ask was always far too much (when Harvey was out, we were 60/5 after 14 overs, needing 75 runs off the last 6).
Lucas remained not out with an excellent 23 (off 22 balls), while Gregory eventually accumulated 20 (off 26 balls) before attempting a kamikaze run in the last over, apparently to give Finlay a bat (who faced one ball from which he ran a bye). In the end, we finished on 108/7 off the full 20. Not a bad total but 26 runs short, compared to a 29 extra differential, which shows where the game was lost. We bowled fast but not straight enough.
(Incidentally, they bowled two of their best bowlers for three overs, with one outfielder not bowling at all. Their umpire had mentioned that bowlers can bowl three overs in the South Manchester league, which is true, but we stuck to our usual method of bowling everyone twice. It wouldn’t have made a difference.)
Our next opponents, NEC Spitfires, surprisingly thrashed Whalley Range to blow the division wide open, although we’d need a very specific sequence of results to be able to win the group. It’s still been a good learning experience.
The lost ball at Alderley Edge:
