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There were some strong performances by the U12s and U13s teams in the first couple of weeks of the season, winning all their matches in the High Peak league but finding it tough in the Cheshire and South Manchester leagues. A special mention to William Wall, who retired out (after reaching 30 runs) four times in the five games he played, averaging 150 (he also picked up 4 wickets at 5.75 apiece).
Friday 23rd April: Mellor U13 91/8 (20) bt Heaton Mersey U13 75-8 (20) by 16 runs – Cheshire league (Scorecard)
Mellor batted first and leaned heavily on their number 2 & 3 batsmen. Heaton Mersey never let them get away, with a wicket apiece for Harry Webley, Lewis Pettifer, Matthew Noble, Charlie Kempson and Isaac Browne, and 2-1 for William Wall (who also took two catches). Heaton Mersey started the run chase well, with William Wall and Matthew Noble putting on 38 for the second wicket after an early setback, but after that they lost wickets at regular intervals and struggled to keep with the required run rate. In the end, it was a fairly close defeat, by 16 runs, with a number of promising performances as the season starts.
Sunday 25th April: Stockport Georgians U13 74/7 (20) vs Heaton Mersey U13 75/5 (16.5) – High Peak league (Scorecard)
It was a terrific performance from the team with an excellent attitude throughout. Fielding was very tight, with a couple of very good catches (T Kinder & F Mayer); wickets for A Prabaharan, J Cheetham, J Buckley-Lowe, I Browne & 3 for A Gittins; good keeping from L Capewell; good all-round performance from H Stackhouse-Pepper and D Booth; enough runs to win from I Browne, A Reid and 22 not out from J Buckley-Lowe. The target was chased down with 19 balls to spare. Well done.
Friday 28th April: Heaton Mersey U13 103/4 (20) vs Timperley U13 105/4 (19) – South Manchester league (Scorecard)
What a lovely evening's cricket in the April sun. Well played Mersey, a close game which went to the last over, but we just came up short in the end, as Timperley chased down the runs. Super proud of the way they all played.
Sunday 30th April: Hyde U13 75/0 (16.3) bt Heaton Mersey U13 73/7 (20) – Cheshire league (Scorecard)
Heaton Mersey batted first and made a good start, reaching 41-1 and 66-3, but a there was a rush of wickets at the end that slowed progress. William Wall was the stand-out batter, retiring on 31 off 31 balls. Hyde showed their quality in response, losing no wickets and knocking off the runs with nearly 4 overs to spare. A tough match but a learning experience.
Monday 1st May: Stockport Trinity U13 84/5 (20) lost to Heaton Mersey U12 85/4 (17.4) by 6 wickets – High Peak league (Scorecard)
We are the Heaton Mersey U12s, playing in the High Peak U13s league. Our first match was postponed because of the weather, but our second match was on the May Day bank holiday, at 9:15am, away at Stockport Trinity.
Trinity batted first and we bowled and fielded really well, managing to restrict them to 84 for 5 off their 20 overs. All the boys bowled well, but notable mentions go to Luke Connor and Oliver Hyde, who both only conceded 4 runs in total off their 2 overs.
There were also 2 wickets on debut by Ayaan Munir (who bowled really well, left arm pace) and a wicket for Charlie Kempson. The bowling was supported by excellent fielding, with both a catch and a run out for Zac Finnegan.
Heaton Mersey then rattled off the runs with just over 2 overs to spare, eventually scoring 85-4. Charlie Kempson and Luke Connor both scored maximum 25s and Ethan Green saw the team home with an unbeaten 11.
The team was: George Sinclair; Lewis Pettifer; Aaron Armstrong; Ayaan Munir; Ethan Green; Charlie Kempson; Zak Finnegan; Jimmy Healey; Zain Panjwani; Luke Connor; Oliver Hyde
Of the above, Oliver, Zain and Ayaan made their debuts.
Tuesday 2nd May: Heaton Mersey U13 68/4 (14.1) vs Bredbury St Marks U13 67/8 (20) – High Peak league (Scorecard)
It was a very good performance from the team this evening, with wickets for J Cheetham, F Mayer and F Claridge. There was also a debut (first ball) wicket for F Ahmad and a wicket for R Eddie in his first ever cricket match. R Wrigley starred with 3 wickets for 3 runs off 2 overs, including a caught and bowled, and there were excellent catches from A Gittins and R Eddie. Tight bowling was displayed by T Claridge & B Aspinall. Everyone was switched on in the field and there was really good keeping on a tricky wicket by L Capewell.
The team chased 67 quite easily with B Aspinall defending against their best bowlers, allowing F Claridge 24 not out, F Ahmad 9 and A Reid 15 not out to score the runs. The team showed a brilliant attitude with great sportsmanship and all played well.
Friday 5th May: Didsbury U13 175/7 (20) vs Heaton Mersey U13 75/7 (20) – South Manchester league (Scorecard)
Tough game for the boys tonight against a strong Didsbury side who batted first and scored 175/7. A wicket each for Will, Corbin, Farhad, John and Harry and we also had two run outs. Chasing this total was always going to be challenging however they didn’t give up and carried on until the end finishing on 94/7. Well done to Will for another ‘retired not out’ and great to have Farhad and Raid making their HMCC debuts. On to the next game!
Sunday 7th May: Heaton Mersey U13 79 all out (19.5) lost to Timperley U13 145-7 (20) by 66 runs – Cheshire league (Scorecard)
A fantastic sunny May morning down at Green Lane where Mersey took on a strong Timperley team in the Cheshire League. Rain overnight and a green pitch, meant Mersey elected to bowl first.
A great opening 4 overs from Angus and Ellie pegged Timperley back early on, with Angus clean bowling their opening bat. An amazing catch from Jacob at midwicket from Matthew’s bowling dismissed Timperley’s other opening bat. With Will marshalling the field as captain and John working hard behind the stumps, Timperley’s scoring was restricted somewhat up to the 15th over.
Two wickets a piece from George and Akash, with George taking a lovely caught and bowled. Will was the other wicket taker trapping the batsman in front for an easy LBW decision. Adan, Corbin, Ethan and Jacob all bowled well against some really attacking Timperley batting, who after 20 overs posted 145 runs.
Mersey undeterred began the run chase well with Will and Angus, then Will and Matthew all scoring at a good strike rate. Adan, Jacob, John and Akash all came in and added runs to the board with some lovely positive running between the wickets. Ellie at 8 batted well, finishing not out at the end of the innings. Corbin, Ethan and then George batted towards the end and were put under a lot of pressure from a close Timperley field, I was super proud of how they went about their innings under that pressure.
Mersey ended up with 79 all out off 20 overs which was a good effort against a strong Timperley team containing a number of players who also represent Cheshire and Lancashire. Player of the match goes to George for his caught and bowled and for overcoming an injured wrist to bat at the end. Special mention also goes to Ethan for his two really good overs towards the end. A defeat but only in score line, onwards and upwards to next week’s match.