A very solid fortnight for the U12s and U13s, as they claimed five wins out of five with some great performances.
Friday 9th June: Macclesfield U13 115/9 (20) lost to Heaton Mersey U13 210/2 (20) by 95 runs – South Manchester league (Scorecard)
Macclesfield won the toss and elected to field, which proved to be an unwise strategy given the explosive way in which Heaton Mersey batted. No-one missed out, with the top seven all getting at least 18, with William Wall, Akash Prabaharan, Corbin Wilkinson, John Buckley-Lowe (off just 12 balls) and Harry Stackhouse Pepper (off just 14 balls) all retiring upon reaching at least 25 runs. The batting side hit 26 fours and 3 sixes, posting a daunting total of 210/2 off their allotted 20 overs.
In the field, Mersey showed little mercy, as Macclesfield soon fell well behind the required run rate. All five retiring batsmen took a wicket, whilst Ben Aspinall and Finn Mayer both took a brace in their three overs each. Despite benefiting from 38 extras, comfortably the top scorer, Macclesfield never got close. They finished on 115/9, a massive 95 runs behind. What a performance.
Sunday 11th June: Heaton Mersey U13 175/4 (20) beat Hale Barns U13 99/8 (20) by 76 runs – Cheshire league (Scorecard)
It was a blistering hot morning at Green Lane, with temperatures hitting 30 degrees. HMCC U13s batted first and the three opening batsmen (A Reid, B France & A Armstrong) all reached retirement in their 30s with strike rates over 100. This speed of scoring was maintained, and very useful contributions from C Kempson (26) and J Buckley-Lowe (15) saw HMCC reach 175/4 off 20 overs.
Hale Barns had a steady start but could not match the strike rate of HMCC due to accurate and fast bowling from L Connor, G Sinclair, E Pagan and A Ali. Hale Barns opener O Settle made a very nice 31 (retired) but regular wickets pegged them back. A Prabaharan took an excellent caught & bowled, C Wilkinson spun a beauty pitching on leg and taking off stump, B France took two wickets in two balls after converting to spin bowling in his second over.
Despite the oppressive heat, the team maintained their concentration and real effort in the field and were rewarded with 3 run outs. Special mention goes to J Buckley-Lowe, who sweated half his body weight under his wicket keeping helmet but kept very well. Hale Barns made 99/8 off 20 overs so HMCC u13 won by 76 runs.
Monday 12th June: Heaton Mersey U13 122/3 (16) beat Cheadle Hulme U13 104/5 (16) by 76 runs – High Peak league (Scorecard)
It was another scorching evening of U13 cricket at Green Lane. The teams agreed that HMCC would bat first and our opening batters looked to score quickly. M Noble (25 runs off 19 balls) and W Wall (25 runs off an astonishing 11 balls) set the pace, whilst E Pagan was unlucky to be bowled by a sizzling delivery from Cheadle’s Y Trivedi. An impressive thunderstorm with a deluge of rain intervened to halt the match for 30 minutes and restrict the match to 16 overs per side. This did not alter the focus of R Eddie, his first season playing cricket, who smashed his previous top score of 2 by slashing 23 runs from 24 balls. Nor did it affect D Booth, who achieved his highest score of the season with 22 not out from 25 balls. J Taylor contributed an entertaining 14 runs from 12 balls for HMCC U13 to reach a total of 122/3 off 16 overs.
Cheadle Hulme faced extremely accurate opening bowlers in J Haynes (2 overs, 1 maiden, 4 runs) and A Reid (2 overs, 8 runs, 1 wicket) but two of their batters were able to retire, albeit at a much lower run rate than HMCC. D Parry (2 overs, 1 maiden, 10 runs) was very unlucky not to take a wicket against their best batters who played and missed several times. W Wall (2 overs, 1 maiden, 5 runs, 2 wickets) and A Gittins (2 overs, 17 runs, 1 wicket) both got their wickets by hitting the stumps; T Kinder made some electric stops in the field whilst J Taylor and A Reid combined well to effect a close run out. These contributions restricted Cheadle Hulme CC to 104/5. Another strong win for HMCC placing them one win away from the top of the High Peak League.
Wednesday 14th June: Heaton Mersey U12 114/9 (16/2) beat Bredbury St Marks U13 105/9 (17.3) by 9 runs – High Peak league (Scorecard)
The heat from the sunshine on Wednesday afternoon caused high temperatures in Heaton Mersey, but the temperature was even higher due to the batting by the U12s Heaton Mersey team. Ben France hit a blazing 18 off 7 balls and Charlie hit a quick fire 27 off 21. They were then well supported by a good 11 from Lewis Pettifer. Heaton Mersey made 79 off the first 10 overs but lost wickets due to some good bowling from the opposition and well-taken catches despite some good shots. The run rate slowed somewhat and, after the next few overs, Mersey lost further wickets due to run-outs. Aaron Armstrong made a solid 20 to bring the team to a good score of 114 in partnership with Rajan.
The Heaton Mersey bowlers then restricted Bredbury for the first few overs, with Adan taking a wicket on his first delivery and completing a maiden. Charlie and Aaron continued well against some good batting opposition. Ayaan Munir then bowled a phenomenal spell by taking two quick wickets in his over and was unlucky to not get a third. Zak Finnegan bowled a great over, restricting runs and taking a wicket. Jimmy Healy again bowled really well and picked up a wicket. Ethan was great behind the stumps as was his bowling, which has improved. Zaayan then came and bowled a fantastic over and possibly could have had two LBWs if he had been able to review with the video umpire (one to ask the Chair of the club about!).
Rajan then continued the great bowling by bowling a great over. Ben and Charlie then came back and kept the pressure on brilliantly, with Ben taking a great caught and bowled. Just as Bredbury were coming close, Adan came back to take the final two wickets to bowl them out. It was a great team effort from every one of the team, with fantastic spirit, improvement and resilience shown by all the boys. It was great to see players with less experience growing in confidence and contributing significantly. They each did themselves proud to win a tough game. On to the next match.
Friday 16th June: Stretford U13 102/8 (20) lost to Heaton Mersey U13 148 all out (17.5) by 46 runs – South Manchester league (Scorecard)
Heaton Mersey were put into bat and started well, despite an early run-out, with Jack Taylor retiring on 25 off just 14 balls. A clatter of wickets in the middle order, including another run-out, was arrested by William Wall blazing 19 off 7 balls and Angus Reid, who retired out on 28 off 17 balls. Harry Stackhouse Pepper and Jacob Haynes, with 18 each (and the latter not out), ensured that a very respectable score of 148 was posted.
Stretford’s start mirrored Mersey’s, with a solid start followed by a rush of wickets in the middle order. In Stretford’s case, however, it was more severe, collapsing from 54/1 to 71/8. Their unbeaten 9th wicket partnership dragged them over 100, but they were far too far behind to threaten Heaton Mersey. Ben Aspinall, Raid Khan and William Wall all picked up two wickets, the latter conceding just four runs of his two overs, while Ellie Pagan and Jayden Cheetham also picking up a wicket each. Another convincing win.
Pic: The U13s wait patientialy for a thunderstorm to clear in a match against Cheadle Hulme at Green Lane
