COUNTY LEAGUE NEWS Things Hotting Up…

COUNTY LEAGUE NEWS on behalf of Cheshire Clubs Cricket Committee (4 Cs) EDITOR: JAMES EMMERSON JUNE AND JULY 2019 BUMPER EDITION Things hotting up…. ….before another washout ! PLUS Toft and Nantwich in cup triumphs Bowlers dominate in the leagues News from 2nd & 3rd XI, and over 40s Cricket World Cup APOLOGIES FROM THE EDITOR! It’s good to be back with another edition of the newsletter after an ultimately failed effort to produce anything in June. I apologise to all those who were disappointed but a combination of significant changes at work, and my involvement with the Cricket World Cup, meant that I made a decision to try and keep standards where they are and delay a publication, rather than put something out that I was not happy with. So I have included a summary of June in Cheshire cricket over the next few pages, plus an outline of my World Cup involvement beneath, with other comments elsewhere. CRICKET WORLD CUP 2019 The pulsating climax to this year’s World Cup will hopefully have a significant knock-on effect for the game. Although I was not involved in the final itself, it was a great thrill to be contracted by the ICC to score games with the media during the competition. It involved a fair amount of planning and preparation, a lot of day-on-day work updating stats, a few thousand miles of travel, and recording somewhere in the region of 14,000 deliveries, cov- ering (as I did) 24 matches in just under six weeks, culminating in a thor- oughly gripping semi final at Old Trafford. The media operation in any global sporting event is nothing short of mind THE MEDIA CENTRE AT OLD TRAFFORD boggling, and when it comes to cricket, even more so. Journalists from all over the world descend upon the venues, all of them with slightly different roles on any given day in terms of what they are reporting. Being the scorer in the main media centre, my role is to provide in-match and in-tournament stats and facts as they occur, lots of which get used in live reports, blogs, tweets and other updates. I also have a specially designed sheet which provides an over-by-over summary and an analysis of each powerplay. MY MEDIA SCORESHEETS It’s inevitably a long day and can get very demanding at times - for example, when Eoin Morgan kept hammering sixes at Old Trafford or when tense finishes boil up. In that regard, I was privileged to be at both New Zealand/ West Indies and Australia/South Africa, two of the finest finishes I have ever personally witnessed, but I enjoyed every single occasion. The opportunity to meet so many people is to be treasured; I came across an absolutely livid Kumar Sangakarra at SL/Afghanistan at Cardiff, who was distraught with his country’s batting and gave me a quick, furious masterclass in playing the spinning ball from the crease. I hadn’t the heart to tell him, fascinating TMS IN ACTION AT SOUTHAMPTON as it was, it was completely wasted on me! Working with the scorers involved in live broadcasts is also a really good experience. Getting featured on Cricinfo after a strange but great day at Taunton, when Australia met Pakistan is also a strong abiding memory for me! It was my first time in their new scorers room and a wonderful view across the ground. I managed to juggle two roles that day, which I won’t forget! VIEW FROM THE SCORERS ROOM AT TAUNTON CCCL PREMIER LEAGUE IN JUNE A GOOD MONTH FOR ALDERLEY EDGE who topped the form guide with four wins and seven points from a cancelled game. The Moss Lane outfit started the month with a comfortable victory over Grappenhall and then benefitted from the presence of Lancashire’s Stephen Parry, who took 10 wickets in two matches (including 10-5-5-5 against OP). CHESTER BOUGHTON HALL had a strong finish to June after starting it with a tense draw at Widnes, finishing two runs short of victory with three wickets still in hand. Then, after the washout of the following week, Chester showed all their powers of recovery, with their last 3 wickets adding 177 against Grappenhall after being 53-5. The following week they overcame in-form Hyde thanks to a splendid all-round performance from Rick Moore (76 and 4-28) and finished off by turning over struggling Oulton Park to be top at the end of June. Despite a heavy defeat (and nil return) at Timperley on the 29th, NESTON had an otherwise decent June with three wins out of four games completed. Will Evans’ 281 runs in the month continued his wonderful season, in which he has passed 100 three times (he even made half of his team’s runs in the afore mentioned loss!) Michael Eckard also made 116 off 104 in their win over Cheadle. A OKAY MONTH FOR TIMPERLEY, TOFT and NANTWICH all had frustration with the weather during June, but also managed to get a couple of wins on the board. The Dabbers have been struggling in their defence of the title, Hyde bowling them out for 56 on June 2 to hand them their third straight defeat. However, successive hard-fought wins have bolstered their spirits. OULTON PARK are also included as they more than doubled their points tally in June, with a big first win over the season. However, many hard yards ahead remain, one feels. A MONTH TO FORGET FOR HYDE and CHEADLE recorded a win apiece but had otherwise difficult months, but WIDNES and MARPLE, despite being involved in some fantastic games, didn’t taste victory. GRAPPENHALL’s awful run of form (the most points gained in a match came from a cancelled fixture) left them with work to do, although they were by no means adrift at the foot of the table. JUNE HONOURS BOARD PREMIER TABLE JUNE FORM GUIDE Will Evans 117, Nest v Marp, 22.6 Michael Eckard 116*, Neston v Cheadle, 1.6 TEAM PTS TEAM PTS IN JUNE Robert Sehmi, 101*, Toft v Marp, 1.6 CHESTER BH 209 ALDERLEY EDGE 107 Adam Roylance 95, Grapp v CBH, 15.6 ALDERLEY EDGE 188 CHESTER BH 91 Mark Makin 92*, Marp v Hyde, 29.6 NESTON 180 NESTON 82 Ben Gibbon 8-59, OP v Timp, 1.6 TIMPERLEY 165 TIMPERLEY 68 Scott Johnston 7-27 Timp v Chead, 15.6 HYDE 158 TOFT 66 Josh Dooler 6-13, Chead v Wid, 22.6 CHEADLE 154 NANTWICH 65 Jason Whittaker 6-23, Hyde v Nant, 1.6 NANTWICH 144 OULTON PARK 47 Ed Foster 6-24, AE v Grapp, 1.6 TOFT 133 HYDE 46 Philip Stockton 6-37, Nant v Timp, 22.6 WIDNES 97 CHEADLE 45 Jack Williams 6-67, CBH v Widnes, 1.6 MARPLE 91 WIDNES 45 Five wicket hauls: Stephen Parry (twice) for OULTON PARK 81 MARPLE 40 AE; Luke Jones & Michael Eckard (Neston). GRAPPENHALL 64 GRAPPENHALL 18 CCCL DIVISION 1 IN JUNE A GOOD MONTH FOR DIDSBURY, who recovered from a very poor May to top the form table in a very tight division with an unbeaten June which included three wins. Tim Hughes recorded successive unbeaten centuries as Didsbury made significant progress up the table, and even when Hughes missed out in the last game of the month, it barely mat- tered as they were only chasing 34 for victory after their remarkable demolition of Brooklands. BOLLINGTON also had a three win June, with their overseas player Caleb Ziebell’s amazing 191 against Upton a real highlight of the month. That match saw Bolly win comfortably, but their next two wins - by 16 runs and then 1 run - were much tighter affairs! But Bollington were delighted to be in the mid-table pack, with no team having a big advantage at month end. A OKAY MONTH FOR most other teams in the division, with eight clubs averaging 59 points between them in June, meaning that there is still plenty to play for. OXTON continue to lead the table, their two June wins helping to compensate for a real off day against BRAMHALL when they were all out 54. Bramhall themselves were then bowled out for 75 by bottom club Romiley the following week, to underline the topsy-turvy nature of the division. Despite only winning once, BOWDON racked up 66 points in June, with only three clubs managing more. That one win, incidentally, was by one run against Macclesfield in a breathless finish. DAVENHAM recovered from a poor start to June by winning successive matches and keep themselves looking at the top end of the division. Despite the agony of a one run defeat to Bollington when looking well set, ROMILEY kept themselves in touch with other clubs after the fore- mentioned hammering of Bramhall, while MACCLESFIELD’s equally emphatic win over Sale on the last match day of the month helped to ease the frustrations of earlier defeats and weather-disrupted matches. A MONTH TO FORGET FOR URMSTON and BROOKLANDS, who both failed to record any wins in June, the latter having an especially chas- tening time with zero points from their last two games. Kevin Carroll’s long term injury is clearly a blow, but with AJ Hart able to bowl again, Brooklands will be looking to steady the ship in the games ahead. SALE and UPTON both gained a win each in otherwise difficult months for them. However, there are still plenty of points up for grabs! JUNE HONOURS BOARD DIV 1 TABLE JUNE FORM GUIDE Caleb Ziebell 191, Boll v Upt, 1.6 Tim Hughes 131*, Dids v Urms, 22.6 TEAM PTS TEAM JUNE PTS Glenn Batticciotto 115, Oxt v Urms, 1.6 OXTON 179 DIDSBURY 88 Calum Turner 114, Urms v Oxt, 1.6 BRAMHALL 165 BOLLINGTON 80 Tim Hughes 105*, Dids v Macc, 15.6 BOWD0N 160 OXTON 78 Adam Wilde 100*, Bram v Brook, 1.6 DIDSBURY 156 BOWDON 70 DAVENHAM 155 BRAMHALL 63 Matt Spells 97*, Sale v Boll, 22.6 Khalid Sawas 95, Macc v Bowd, 1.6 BOLLINGTON 143 DAVENHAM 58 Frederick Kamstra 93, Dids v Urm, 22.6 MACCLESFIELD 142 ROMILEY 57 URMSTON 136 MACCLESFIELD 55 Liam Booth 7-10, Dids v Brook, 29.6 SALE 118 UPTON 48 Matthew Higginbottom 6-21, Bram v Oxt Stuart Plant 6-26, Boll v Rom, 29.6 106 BROOKLANDS SALE 43 Matt Gregson, 5-31, Dids v Urms, 22.6 UPTON 100 URMSTON 34 Isaac Brooks, 5-37, Sale v Boll, 22.6 ROMILEY 85 BROOKLANDS 18 Chris Ashling 5-43, Bowd v Bram, 29.6 CCCL DIVISION 2 IN JUNE A GOOD MONTH FOR BOWLERS! Division Two in June continued the trend of bowler-dominated matches, with no centuries recorded but any number of excellent bowling performances, as the June honours board shows! There were another 8 double figure innings in the month (21 such in total so far).

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