Irby v Poynton – 25.4.09 - Match Report

Irby entertained Poynton on Saturday in what turned out to be an exciting, high scoring draw. Irby`s Steve Hurworth won the toss and on a good, firm early season wicket elected to bat.

Dean Heyes and newly added Irby old-boy, Martin Smith, opened up and although dropped in the first over, Martin immediately took the attack to the Poynton bowlers which resulted in a number of boundary fielders within 10 overs !!  Martin continued hitting the ball well all afternoon and with good partnerships with most of the other Irby batsmen, including a free flowing 58 from Steve Hurworth and a quickfire 32 not out from Mike Newman, a fine total of 254-7 declared was achieved off 50 overs. Martin Smith caught on the boundary for an excellent 89.

In response, Poynton`s skipper edged 3 of the first 6 balls he faced through the slips for boundaries and against a lively opening spell from Mark Newman and Jamie Hurworth, both openers were kept on their toes.

Jamie removed the dangerous Kingham early on and against a young looking Poynton line up, Irby smelt another victory. Credit though must go to the Poynton skipper Gould and the other batsmen as they all played positively and continued to score freely, especially in view of gaps left by positive field placings ! Poynton ended on 249-7 off 50 and although this was a good solid performance, the Irby catching was very disappointing with a number of chances missed !!  Gould in particular was missed a number of times off Mark Newman who bowled his best spell for a while and bowled himself into the ground.

16 points gained though and lots of positives to take into our game with Heaton  Mersey next week.

DN.

Christleton v Irby – 4.7.09

The 1^st xi travelled to nearby Christleton on Saturday in search of some more valuable league points. Christleton looked in its normal excellent shape and upon winning the toss, skipper Steve Hurworth decided to bat. Dan Thomas and George McCaffrey opened up and got the innings off to a slow, but solid start against 2 of the best opening bowlers in the league.George reached 19 when he was caught behind off Parkinson and this brought “Aussie” Dean Heyes to the wicket. Dean looked in good form again and quickly reached 21, however, he was then unfortunately bowled by Allen.

As the innings stuttered a little against a decent bowling attack the chances of obtaining full bonus points seem to be reducing and following the loss of Dan Thomas for 34 and Steve Hurwoth for 13, Dave Newman and Jamie Hurworth tried to up the rate and attacked spinner Young.Jamie played well for 17 , however, following his dismissal, Irby were 127-6 off 39 overs. A partnership of 70 for the 7^th wicket between Dave Newman (42no) and Greg Shillinglaw (39) bolstered the total to 202-7 and helped bag 8 batting points, however, a par score at Christleton is probably more like 250 so we knew it would be hard to defend 202 on what was an excellent wicket. 

In response, Christleton started well and it soon became clear that Irby`s bowlers would struggle to take 10 wickets to win the game.Unfortunately, no early wickets were taken and Christleton 2 openers batted well against some in-different bowling - adding 181 for the 1^st wicket.Jamie Hurworth and Mark Newman picked up a late wicket each, however, the winning target was reached in 41 overs and a little too easy.

 9 points gained and plenty to think about for skipper, Steve Hurworth before next weeks visit of league leaders Bramhall.

 DN

Irby v Heaton Mersey – 25.7.09

 The First XI entertained Heaton Mersey this weekend and following a week of damp weather the wicket and ground were disappointingly damp and green. Skipper, Steve Hurworth, won the toss and in positive fashion, chose to bat first.With both the regular openers missing through injury, Greg Shillinglaw and Ben Thomas took over the reigns and opened up.Greg played in his usual positive manner against the new ball and although the bowling from Heaton Merseys “pro” was very good, the innings started fairly well, despite the loss of Ben for 1. When Greg was unfortunately out for 31, “Aussie” Dean Heyes, who is looking in good form, took control and scored fairly freely despite some good bowling.

Wickets unfortunately tumbled at the other end and when Dean was finally out for an excellent 58, Irby were wobbling at 113-8. Youngsters Jamie Hurwoth, George McCaffrey and veteran Dave Collyer battled hard though and took the score to 165 off 47 overs and gained 8 valuable batting points.

 The home team felt this was a decent score on what was still a “green” wicket, however, they knew early wickets had to be collected to have any chance of success. Unfortunately, Heaton Mersey soon reached 30 without loss and thanks to an excellent piece of sportsmanship from wicketkeeper Hayes, who called back one of the openers, Mersey looked in control of the run chase. This soon changed though when Mark Newman and Jamie Hurworth picked up a wicket each and suddenly Irby were back in the game.Merseys “pro” soon threatened to take the game away from Irby with some excellent hitting and at 90-2 things weren`t looking good for the home team.

Dave Collyer took some early punishment, however, he soon drew the No.3 into a false shot and Dave Newman took the catch.Soon after, Steve Hurworth picked up the “pro” with a slightly disputed LBW, however, with 60 still needed and 5 down, Irby knew they had a chance. Both bowlers kept things tight and following 2 or 3 rash shots, Mersey were soon 9 down and still wanting 30….

As overs ran short and the required runs were down to 16, Mark Newman was brought back on and he soon unsettled the Mersey no.9 with a “disappointing” high full toss.

2 balls later he found the perfect delivery though and finished things off for the home team. 

Irby won by 16 runs and collected 24 points.

 Next stop is Timperley who appear to have improved in recent weeks, so it won`t be an easy game.

Irby v Grappenhall – 15^th August 2009

 The 1^st team entertained Grappenhall on Saturday and were looking to pick up more valuable league points.

Unsuprisingly, the Grappenhall skipper won the toss and in normal fashion, asked us to bat.

Phil Rennie and Greg Shillinglaw opened up and thanks to some lusty blows from Greg, the innings started well.

The loss of Phil and Aussie, Dean, soon set us back, however, skipper Steve Hurworth then went about building a good base with Greg.

Greg was eventually out for a quality 61 and at this point we were well placed for maximum batting points.

Steve Hurworth and Dave Newman continued to score at 3 and 4 an over and although the bowling from Park was tight the score ticked passed 140.

Unfortunately, Steve was then out for a good 40 and although the latter batsmen chipped in, only 8 points were gained and the innings ended in the 50^th over at 191.

 This was a competitive score, however, we knew we had to bowl well on another good Irby track and against a strong batting line up.

Jamie Hurworth made the important breakthrough, bagging the important wicket of Green for 0 – caught well at slip by Aid Kinsey, however, at 10-1, the heavens opened and it then rained heavily for an hour and flooded parts of the ground.

21 overs were lost and the game was in serious danger of being abandoned, however, thanks to some “hard graft” from the players and to our new “super soppers” we managed to get back on leaving 26 overs for Grappenhall to reach their target and for us to bowl them out.

To their credit Grappenhall were very positive in their response and despite crashing to 23-4, Park and Sharp built a good base and threatened to win the game in quick time.

Mark Newman was the star of the show though and took 5-47 to end Grappenhalls hopes as we bowled them out for 163.

Dave Collyer also chipping in with 3 valuable wickets.

24 points gained and all of a sudden the gap at the top has closed to just a few points.

4 big games to go and who knows where we might end up if we can keep the momentum going ?

Next stop Cheadle away.

DN.