4th XI win away at Mellor

It was a hot one when Timperley convened at Mellor. The ground looked superb with a hard wicket and a well manicured outfield so the runes suggested bat first given the choice. Yet another lost toss saw us take the field....

In an effort to shake things up a little, Phil gladly accepted the captains offer of him doing the wicket keeping role but must have wondered why when all the bowlers throughout the innings had him leaping around leg & the off side like a demented Salmon to try & hoover up some of the dross being served up. Despite the wayward bowling the Mellor batsmen did not get away to a high scoring rate and finished on 186 for 3 from their allocation with the youngster Hodgson playing well for a maiden century (102) not out and he did not give a sniff of a chance. A reflection of our poor bowling was extras (36) being the second highest scoring Mellor contribution. The successful bowlers for Timperley were Tayyab, Cross & Tharcasmani.

Considering the teams batting frailty this season the 187 needed for a win looked a big ask. Krishna went quick for a well played 10 before missing a straight one and then Sohaib did the same for 5 it looked rocky at 18 for 2. Piyush settled things down with Phil and looked comfortable for 13 before top edging to fine leg. 39 for 3. Gary was in next and was fortunate to get some loose stuff early on to remember where the middle of his bat was and get started. Phil was playing an anchor role and just accumulating.

They put on 85 for the 4th wicket before Gary's thermostat blew and concentration level dropped to allow yet another Lbw to occur. He had scored 56. 120 for 4 and looking promising but Tayyab & Was fell to the spin of Hodgson to make it 127 for 6 and the skipper began to fret. However Joe came in and applied some long handle to hit 2 enormous sixes to restart the run chase. Phil reminded him to play a bit straighter and all of a sudden he looked awful...(Note to self - let Joe play how Joe plays...)

The score had leapt to 150 when Phil went for a sweep only to send the ball straight up into the keepers hands and get dismissed for a steady 36. Abdullah joined Joe and they nurdled the ball around for 20 before Joe missed one of his heaves to be bowled for a run a ball 30. 173 for 8. Abdullah was then caught at mid off for a well played 20 and the last pair needed 6 to win. Cross with 1* & Maharaj with 6* squeezed us over the line for a 1 wicket win. Phew!!

As they say, 'any win is a good win' and hopefully this will help kick start the 4th XI's season.