GMCL round-up: Mottram suffer double defeat

It was the first double weekend of the season in the Greater Manchester Cricket League with many clubs playing two fixtures.

Mottram continue to struggle in their maiden season in GMCL Premier 2 as they suffered a double defeat, home and away, to neighbours Denton St Lawrence.

On Saturday, in GMCL Premier 2, Mottram won the toss and elected to bat Scott Kirwin struck early, accounting for Andy Metcalfe with the score on 5. 

The often brilliant Daniel Cranmer then took care of captain Stef Fielding. 

A steady rebuild by ‘Dishy’ Dias and Ryan Fitton took Mottram past 50 but three quick wickets, including two comedy runouts, left them 60-5. 

Things didn’t get much better as Cranmer (3-23) and Mark Selby (3-45), fresh from his Crucible heartbreak, kept Mottram to just 123, no batsman passing 20.

Kirwin then struck a fluent 74 not out from just 61 balls to see DSL home for the lost of just one wicket inside 25 overs. 

Adam Hawley chipped in with 46* as Mo Saqib took Mottram’s only wicket.

Things didn’t get any better for Mottram on Sunday. 

Winning the toss again, this time they elected to field but found Kirwin again in top form. 

He hit a fluent 55 from 44 in a stand of 88 with The Don. 

There was no respite, however, for Mottram’s bowlers as Connor McCheyne, in at 3, bludgeoned a maiden century, ending unbeaten on 126 (off 108) as DSL piled on 280-7 from their 45. 

Bailey Russell took his maiden 1st XI wicket, ending with 3-69. 

Mottram were never at the races as they folded to 4-3 then 42-8 before Ismail Iqbal’s 39 helped them to just 91, all out in under 90 minutes. 

Mark Selby added four more wickets (4-21) to his Saturday haul.

Robert Hinchliffe Premier League

Denton West had a day to forget at defending Champions Prestwich. 

The visitors elected to bat first but were soon floundering at 55-8 as South African pro Nico van Zyl rattled through the top order. 

He finished with 5-32 as the bottom three nudged West to 98ao inside 30 overs. 

Luke Marshall took a wicket in the first over of the second innings, but Prestwich batted steadily to get home inside 30 overs for just three wickets.

Elsewhere, Harry Dearden smashed 156 in Woodbank’s mammoth 373-3. 

Ryan O’Brien (95) and Wade King (53*) chipped in too. 

Clifton closed on a respectable, butdistant, 197ao. 

Edgworth (114) lost to Brooksbottom (216-9), Egerton (123-5) beat Monton (121), Horwich (190-4) beat Shaw (189), and Roe Green (189) beat Royton (130).

GMCL Premier Cup

Joining DSL in Round 2 is Woodhouses after a game for the ages at Windsor Park.

Denton West elected to bat first but saw Alex Spender nick off both Melling and Uppal to leave West 21-2. 

This brought Anmolpreet Singh to the crease alongside Hamish Dunlop. 

Singh made the Woodhouses bowlers dance to his tune. 

In just 12 overs, the pair added 119 with Singh pummelling 100 of those in 49 balls, 90 of them in boundaries; one Sam Whitehead over going for 26. 

Dunlop ticked along nicely, accumulating 70 from 81, but the rest of the West batsmen barely troubled the scorecard as their innings petered out to 229ao with six overs left. Syam Prasad ended with 5-38.

After a healthy opening stand between Sloan and Doyle, Woodhouses lost four wickets for 30 runs to be left struggling at 77-4. 

Harry Welbsy accounting for all four.

The rapid start did, however, allow Prasad (53) and Sanghani (42) to rebuild. 

The pair added 103 in 25 overs before another four wickets fell for the addition of just two runs; Singh again showing his worth with three of them. Woodhouses, still needing 46 off 8 overs, seemed out of it but Sam Whitehead had other ideas. 

The trundler made amends for his earlier horror over, rotating the strike smartly as he scored 35 in 38 balls before falling in the final over just 4 runs from victory. 

James Coote on the penultimate ball of the day smoked the winning four to edge Woodhouses over the line by 1 wicket. 

Elsewhere, Astley & Tyldesley, Clifton, Edgworth, Heaton, Heyside, Heywood, Horwich, Prestwich, Roe Green, Royton, Saddleworth, Shaw, Westhoughton and Greenfield or Woodbank all progressed.

Championship

Glossop continued their good form with a resounding win at Droylsden. 

Put into bat, skipper, keeper and all-round good egg Chris Gill – alongside Lee Dale – put on 102 for the first wicket before succumbing for 50. 

Anuk Fenrando chipped in with 30 as Glossop raced to 178-2 inside 35 overs. 

Dale fell for a fluent 85, but the other Glossop batsmen clearly didn’t fancy it as their last 9 wickets fell for just 48 runs.

Senash Fernando was again in the wickets with 5-49. 

Jonny Booth (3-18) and Matt Sonczak (4-22) did the damage second innings as the home side folded to just 92ao; Shahzaib Shahzaib with 49 of them.

Flowery Field got back to winning ways with a 110-run win away at Flixton. 

Declan Feakes’s unbeaten 49 at 9 left the home side despondent at the break as Flowery ended on 195. 

36-0 became 85ao for Flixton as Tom Chalmers (5-31) made hay.

Dukinfield were struggling at 38-6 and 73-8 away at Stayley before Ryan Holtby’s 51 batting at 10 turned the game on its head. 

Their total of 150, despite Casey Roche’s 5-51, was enough as Holtby completed cricket with 5-34 from his full 15 overs. Stayley ended 30 runs shy.

Division 1

Hadfield remain unbeaten with a convincing away win at Westleigh. 

A streaky 50 from Richard Tranter and a composed 71* from brother Jonathan, ably supported by Hirst’s 25*, guided Hadfield to 240-7. 

Cameron Ball (5-33) and Jay Jones then struck early to leave Westleigh 16-3. 

They rallied briefly, and were later helped by Chalitha Samarasekara’s violent 54, but they ran out of steam to end on 159.

Division 2

Ashton made 226 away at SW Manchester. 

Tom Rayson made 49 and several others chipped in with decent knocks. Ahmed and Shahzad took 3 each to bowl out SW for 173.

Woodley are flying this season and had Conor Cranwell (66), Matt Senior (55) and Sean Gibson (40*) to thank to thank for their score of 230-6, having been 19-3. 

Whalley Range 2nd XI scored 154 in response, Parth Gaikwad (3-55) with 72 of them.

Spin twins Kay and Driver took 7-100 between them.

Championship Cup

Droylsden (91) lost away at Adlington (178) thanks to an 80 and an otherworldly 6-5 in 8 overs from Conner Nicklin. Stayley (124) lost to Uppermill (140); Anees Rehamn with 51. 

Milnrow (197-9) beat Woodley (196-5) by 1 wicket in another thriller. 

Matt Senior was again in the runs with 47 and Sean Gibson added 56. 

Toby Gaunt (47) and Josh Unsworth (48) helped edge Milnrow over the line. 

SW Manchester (89) lost comfortably to Glossop (92-3) thanks to Anuk Fernando’s 4-24 and 59 not out. 

Winton (148) lost to Flowery Field (149-4); Mike Finan with an unbeaten 65. 

Ashton (142) won impressively away at Friarmere (99) thanks to Ahasan Shahzad’s 4-17. 

Hadfield were a shambles away to Deane & Derby, playing a division below them. 

The home side chased down Hadfield’s 126 first innings score five down with 20 overs remaining. 

Alcindo Holder smoked 133 not out from 81 balls in Thornham’s 326-6, Afzaal chipping in with 72; Heywood (5-27) and Pattison (4-21) made light work of Darcy Lever’s reply.

Bury, Cheetham Hill United, Dukinfield, Edenfield, Golborne, Stretford, Tottington and Werneth make up the last 16.

Division 3

Werneth 2nd XI (158-8) edged a close game away at Denton West 2nd XI (156). 

Rashid Khan with 5-28 and his second cousin Kash Khan (54) were the key men for Werneth.

Six bowlers chipped in with a wicket as Roe Green 2nd XI bowled out Oldham for just 117. 

They coasted to a bonus point win thanks to Robert Coombes’ 61 from 46 balls.

Greenfield 2nd XI skittled Flixton 2nd XI for 89 thanks to Sam Mayor (5-16) and Josh Gee (3-17). 

They were 50-0 before finishing on 90-4.

Division 4

In the GMCL Game of the Day, Stalybridge elected to bat first at DSL 2nd XI. 

Danny Humhreys scored 42 and four others exceeded 20 as they put on 195; Damian

Stringer with an impressive 4-26 from 15. 

Ewan Stringer then held the reply together with a steady 54 as a thrilling game saw DSL put on 36 for the ninth wicket. 

Needing eight to win from the last over, Damian struck two fours to edge DSL home with just one ball remaining.

Waqas Ali’s agonising 97 thrust Radcliffe to a sizeable 264-9 away to Ashton Ladysmith, who had elected to field. 

Opener Mo Shah chipped in with 42. 

Waqar Nisar took 3-38 and then smoked a career best 127 but his efforts were in vain as Ladysmith came up just 6 runs short in a thrilling affair.

Friends United battled to 152 away at Denton despite legendary bowler Shoaib Akhtar taking 6-54. 

Mukhtar (3-34), Faraz (4-25) and Butt (3-22) then bowled out Denton for 110.

Divisions 5-6

Dukinfield 2nd XI (173) are joint top after beating Micklehurst (161), a 50 run 8th wicket partnership crucial in the first innings. 

Middleton, Clarke and Coulding took 3 each as the visitors recovered from 38-4 to come up just short.

Glossop join Dukinfield atop Division 5E after a thrilling home victory to their Dukinfield counterparts. All chipped in, notably X Tras with 41, as Duki set Glossop 191 for victory. 

David Wilde opened with 47 before a middle order collapse left the visitors favourites. 

A crucial 39, however, from Chris Coll nudged Glossop over the line by 2 wickets.

A 44 from opener Adeel Arif steered Moorside to 176 away at Flowery Field 2nd XI.

Sheik Islam steamrollered the Flowery batters taking 7-33.

50s from Simpson and Strydom helped Shaw 2nd XI to 205 at home to Woodley 2nd XI; Josh Kay and Mr Adam with 4-fors apiece. 

Kay then stole the show with a furious 66 from 42 in a 95-run sixth wicket partnership with Harry Rippon (52*) that saw Woodley home.

In Division 6E, Hadfield 2nd XI capitulated from 78-3 to 90ao at home to Whalley Range 3rd XI; Shahbaz Rabbie taking 5-10 and four players with ducks. 

Hadfield battled back but Range had enough to get home by 4 wickets; Richard Graham with 4-38.

Mottram 2nd XI (123-3) won away at Micklehurst 2nd XI (120) thanks to Bailey Russell’s 5-31 and Farrukh Habib’s 45. 

They sit in the promotion places.Ashton 2nd XI (180) lost to SW Manchester 2nd XI (219) thanks to Harman Sidhu’s 94 and 5-35. Mo Siddiqui took 5-50 in vain. 

Saif Rahim’s 5-33 restricted Denton 2nd XI to 169ao away at Failsworth Macedonia.

Abbas (4-26) and Khan (4-31) then limited the home side to 115.

Stalybridge (148-5) beat Stayley (145) in the derby thanks to James Lovatt’s 56 opening up.