The weather started to affect matches more as we hit the second half of May, with the Magic game away at Romiley cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch (the team manager seemingly not wanting to rearrange, even though I offered our place after a comment about fixture congestion at theirs), although the U13s managed to get in a cup game away at Brooklands on the same night. A Phoenix match against Cheadle was postponed.
Outside of that, it was four wins out of four over the fortnight, which included the U12s playing in Division 3 of the South Manchester league, a fixture for which we were given little warning. We’d already rearranged three scheduled fixtures from the bank holiday Monday due to likely player shortages during the half-term week.
Monday 18th May 2026: Cheshire Vitality T20 U13 Club Cup (Round 1)
Brooklands U13s 82/6 (20) lost to Heaton Mersey U13s 83/4 (18.2) by 6 wickets (Scorecard)
In a competitive match in the 1st round of the Cheshire Vitality Cup, Mersey saw off a full-strength home side to win by 6 wickets and progress to the 2nd round. After what seemed to be a very serious pre-match routine, the home side batted first after winning the toss on a green-looking pitch.
Brooklands batted confidently in the first few overs, with the opening Mersey bowlers bowling too short and wide, feeding the strength of the opening batters. The home side reached a strong 51/0 after 8 overs before George, hurtling in, took the first wicket with Shawaiz taking a neat catch. The nature of the match then turned completely.
The spinners entered the fray and Arjo, bowling as well as I have ever seen, took two wickets. The batters did not have a clue how to play him. Sam then bowled a couple of excellent probing overs, extracting significant turn from the surface, and was unlucky not to take a wicket as Leo spilled a catch and there were a couple of close LBW calls not given.
Stan bowled three accurate overs and took a wicket, before Will entered the action. Bowling an immaculate line and length , Will took 2/2 in his two overs (shades of the Stockport Trinity away game last season) as the home side’s middle order could not get the ball off the square. The home side limped to 82/6 off their allotted 20 overs as they were too reliant on their Cheshire batters. Mersey’s bowling in the 2nd half of the innings was magnificent as they strangled any run rate and restricted the home side to 18/5 off the last 10 overs.
The away side started their batting innings confidently against a solid attack, with Adam and Shawaiz reaching 31 without loss before Shawaiz drove uppishly and was caught at cover. Adam continued his good form reaching 21 before being bowled by the excellent leg spinner, who was extracting prodigious turn.
Stan joined Leo at the crease and the scoring rate dropped, although both scorers were surprised at the lack of wides being called as the home side sprayed the ball well down the leg side on several occasions. The home side, desperate for victory, gave four overs for all their best bowlers, but Leo and Stan stood firm.
Leo then started scoring freely with Stan running well and taking singles where available. The home sides ‘chat’, which was noisy at the start of the innings, completely disappeared as their fielding became ragged with their field settings somewhat bizarre. With only 6 runs required for victory (off 3 overs), Leo mistimed a drive and was caught out for a splendid 24 (off 34 balls). Despite losing Sam to a superb inswinging yorker, the victory was achieved with 4 byes as Stan guided the away side to victory finishing on 8* (off 24 balls).
Mersey deservedly won the match against a strong Brooklands line-up who were over-reliant on their Cheshire players, and this was the first time that this team/squad had won away at Brooklands. Mersey’s 2nd round match appears to be away to Prestbury. The pink match ball was awarded by captain Adam/ vice-captain Stan to Leo for a superb innings and neat wicket-keeping.
Areas for improvement – Bowling a correct line and length to opening batters, bowling to the field.
Friday 22nd May 2026: South Manchester U13s league T20 (Under 13 Zone 2)
Stockport Blues 71/8 (20) lost to Heaton Mersey U13s 72/0 (7.4) by 10 wickets (Scorecard)
A strong Mersey team comfortably beat a mainly underage Stockport team by 10 wickets.
Stockport won the toss and elected to bat in the glorious sunshine. Shazil and Joe opened the bowling with pace, Joe clean bowling both openers. Adam then caught and bowled Stockport’s number 3, leaving the hosts on 15/3. Zayaan and Shawaiz both bowled a good line and length, but Stockport steadily progressed before Stan ripped the heart out of their middle order with two wickets, both clean bowled.
At the end of the 12th over, Stockport were 53/5. On came the spin twins of Sam and Arjo, who managed to extract some turn to bamboozle the batters into making a few false shots. Four overs to go, the score was 65/5 and, with plenty of batters still to come, Stockport were eyeing a healthy score.
However they hadn’t planned on facing Monty and Felix, neither of whom were in a generous mood. In these final four overs, Mersey only conceded six runs, Monty finishing with figures of 2-1-1-2 and Felix finishing with 2-1-1-1. A big shout to Leo who tidily kept wicket throughout.
Adam and Shazil opened the batting for Mersey. Adam clearly wanted to get home quickly (or at least order a pizza!) as he smashed 31 runs off 19 deliveries, hitting five 4s and one 6 in the process. Once Adam retired not out, Sam came to the crease and with Shazil they both scored quickly and risk free to each score 17 not out.
The young Stockport team may be a different prospect in this league next year, but this was a comprehensive victory for Mersey who march into Division 1 of the South Manchester league as Zone 2 champions.
The match ball was awarded to Monty for his excellent ‘death bowling’.
Friday 22nd May 2026: South Manchester U12s league T20
Heaton Mersey U12s 133/4 (20) beat South West Manchester U12s 46 all out (14.5) by 87 runs (Scorecard)
We had technically, probably, already secured the U12s SM league on the basis that this was the last scheduled game, we had a four point (one win) lead, and we were winning the head-to-heads against both Urmston (closely on net run rate, I had calculated) and Whalley Range (having won the only scheduled match against them).
It had been a warm day but it started to cool in the evening at Heaton Mersey Village (our Friday evening home, away from the Green Lane multi-format mayhem). We wanted to have a bowl first but captain Archie lost the toss and South West Manchester put us in.
Their coach had been open about changing their bowling strategy, which basically meant it switched from rotating round everyone twice to bowling in pairs essentially. I passed this information on to our openers having warned them about their decent opening bowler (who unfortunately injured himself in his second over but stuck it out in the field).
Harvey (now becoming established at the top) and Jake opened the batting for Mersey and accumulated solidly, with Jake in particular playing some immaculate back foot defensive shots against anything straight. They both found runs down to third man while Harvey flicked a six off his pads over square leg (we scorers were well positioned to confirm that it had cleared the ropes by a couple of feet). It was a much better start than last time we played this side, or even against Whalley Range the week before. 27/0 after four overs is the stuff of (our) T20 dreams.
After Jake was bowled and Harvey was unlucky to find the square leg fielder after some more immaculate timing, Archie and Will steadied the ship. Will accumulated steadily while Archie went for boundaries. This scorer’s only criticism would be the lack of aggressive running (putting the pressure on the fielder, turning ones into twos, etc), but otherwise they played excellently. When Archie was bowled, Finlay was unlucky not to find the boundary with a flick off the pads first ball.
Will, however, continued his innings, deliberately uninformed by the gallery regarding his proximity to 30 and a first retirement of the season, having got out for 29 for the team against Davenham in the cup. Finlay’s dismissal brought in George for some big hitting and a definite polish added to the score, with a four and a six in consecutive balls towards the end of the last over taking him to 22 off 17 balls. Our plan had come together nicely.
Conversely, their batters struggled to find runs, as George started with a maiden and Jake bowled one of their openers at the end of his over. After Finlay got a wicket with his first ball, George taking the catch to remove the second opener, they were 7/2 off 4.1 overs with a lot to do. Harvey got a wicket, caught by Will, leaving them 14/3.
Their fourth wicket partnership rebuilt the innings to an extent, but their best batsman called for an ambitious single as the ball went straight to Jake at short midwicket, who threw down the stumps at the keeper’s end with the non-striker comfortably out of his ground.
That left them 35/4 and when the other batter was out, bowled by Arno in the same over, the possibility of a win by the away team, which had already diminished, was almost non-existent. The writing was definitely on the wall when 37/5 turned into 37/6, with George then Jake hitting the stumps.
Gregory then came to the fore, inducing a chipped shot that Archie ran in to catch smartly, before pinging down the stumps of the next batter in, a left hander. The hat-trick attempt fizzed past the stumps but then Finlay made no mistake in the next over, wrapping up their innings for 46, coincidentally the total that we had bowled Urmston out for. (And I could pleasingly once again reference England’s fateful Test score against the West Indies in Trinidad.)
Mersey got a bit silly towards the end, with most of the field switching sides for their last wicket left hand / right hand combination. It was the last day before half-term after all. But it was another complete performance at what is becoming our favourite ground to play at.
Friday 29th 2026: South Manchester U13s league T20 (Division 3)
Heaton Mersey U12s 129/5 (20) beat South West Manchester U13s 74 all out (20) by 55runs (Scorecard)
On a sunny half-term Friday at Harwood Road, we were pleasantly surprised to arrive to see both the lawnmower and roller in action. Both home and away sides had just managed to get together teams, although the opposition only had 10, and for our part Charlie was only back from France that morning.
The visitors won the toss and elected to bowl, approaching their attack strategically by rotating through 4 experienced bowlers for 3 overs apiece with some not bowling at all. Perhaps as a result Mersey lost a couple of wickets early. However, this only brought Evan to the crease, who proceeded to anchor the innings and retire not out.
He formed a particularly useful partnership with Jake, who batted with intent and also went on to retire. Cameos from Harvey and Liam, who hit several well-placed boundaries, meant the home side set a very competitive total 129 in their 20 overs.
George was highly motivated opening Mersey’s attack, and his pace was rewarded with a wicket on the second ball. The visitors’ second wicket partnership then proceeded to dig in, responding to tight bowling that limited their scoring chances as the home side put on the squeeze. By the time their second wicket fell (an excellent catch by Jake off Paddy’s bowling) they had scored just 21 runs in 8 overs, well behind the required rate.
Unfortunately, George then suffered a nasty sprain to his ankle running in hard for his second over and left us a man down in the field. When Jake’s second over brought 2 wickets in 2 balls (both clean bowled), overconfidence in the match situation may then have set in, as for the next few overs fielding was not quite as sharp as our usual standards and SWMCC took advantage of the “buzzers” on offer.
However, the match was never in doubt, with Liam also taking 2 in 2, and smart run out meant the visitors were 8 wickets down going into the last over. Pleasingly, Evan was able to complete the victory with the 9th (and final) wicket in the final ball of the match, and a solid win for the U12s in this step up to the U13s league.
