Written by Gary Hayes
MOORE THE MERRIER FOR ORRELL
It was a weekend of mixed results for Orrell senior teams but a memorable weekend of success for one of the clubs most prominent households.
On Saturday, Sam Heeley’s first team welcomed second placed Wallasey CC to Winstanley Road hoping for a repeat of their thrilling last ball win in the return fixture earlier in the season.
The hosts won the toss and elected to bat but soon lost an early wicket to leave them 4-1. Unfortunately, whilst the Orrell bowling attack bowled well as a unit they were let down by an unusually lethargic fielding performance from the team. Besides a couple of dropped catches, the ground fielding was not of the usual standard with singles being taken in the fielding ring and ones turning into twos. A significant second wicket partnership ensued therefore for the visitors. The earlier than usual introduction of Cameron Sharp to the attack provided some much-needed impetus for Orrell as he struck twice with the score on 78 to leave the visitors three wickets down. Wickets then continued to fall at regular intervals and at 119-6 Orrell looked to be in the driving seat. However, the visitors showed why they are so high in the table as the lower order marshalled superbly by overseas professional Sumit Ruikar saw them to 190-8 declared in 55 overs- they picked up the fourth of the five available batting points on the last ball faced. Sharp finished with figures of 4-43, whilst Tom Jones’ figures of 1-39 do not do justice to how well he bowled, Heeley took 1-14 and Duvindu Tillakaratne finished with figures of 2-86 from 28 overs.
With Ammer Mirza unavailable, Chris Riley joined Andy Baybutt in opening the Orrell innings. When Riley was out early in the innings, Richard Everett came to the crease and the scoreboard rattled along with neither Orrell batter looking to be in any significant trouble. Unfortunately, both batters were out in relatively quick succession to leave the score 65-3- Everett making 35. Things got even worse for Orrell as Tom Jones was adjudged, to the surprise of those in line with the action, run out without facing a ball at the non-striker’s end with the umpire deciding that he was out of his ground when Ruikar deflected Sam Heeley’s straight drive onto the stumps. Heeley continued to look in fine form at the crease and just needed someone to bat with him. This support seemed to arrive in the form of Matthew Wareing who played a fantastic counter-attacking innings as he took the attack back to the dominant Ruikar with some big hitting. Unfortunately, Wareing went for one large shot too many and was stumped from a widish offside delivery from Ruikar to leave the score 120-6. Heeley still looked capable of taking Orrell to victory if he could receive the required assistance from the lower order. However, he was run out for 26 to leave the score 129-7 with onlookers questioning the decision made. Regrettably, that was pretty much it for the Orrell reply as they tumbled to 129-9 through some fairly injudicious shots. Tillakaratne and David Naylor briefly threatened a remarkable Orrell victory as they took the score past 150 before the Sri Lankan was stumped on a tight call to leave Orrell 151 all out in only 34.2 overs.
Whilst a 39 run defeat to a team lying second in the table isn’t a disaster, Heeley will know that on another day and with a better team fielding performance as well as the marginal umpiring decisions going in their favour rather than against them, the result could have been much different. He will also be unhappy that the team did not use a significant chunk of the available overs to chase the total.
Also on Saturday, Dave Whiteley’s second team made the trip to Formby and were unable to halt their recent decline in form. Batting first, Orrell were 147 all out in 44.3 overs. Luke Unsworth top scoring with 30 with Stuart Craig (23) and Gareth Houghton (26) making contributions. As suspected, the total posted proved inadequate as the hosts in only 32.2 overs. Houghton was the most successful Orrell bowler with figures of 3-54, David Cheetham took 1-15 and James Edgington 1-17 on his second team debut- deserved recognition for his recent performances.
It was not all doom and gloom for Orrell on Saturday however as Alan Moore’s young third team secured a much-needed victory against Goodlass CC at their temporary home venue of Haydock Cricket Club. Batting first, Orrell posted 116 all out in 47.1 overs built around the contributions of opening batters Mark Crumpton (35) and Arthur Moore (17) as well as the middle order contribution of Geof Burrows with 26. Moore then produced a true captain’s performance as he finished with figures of 5-18 from 17 overs as Goodlass were bowled out for 100 in 38 overs. James Leyland (3-17) backed up his captain superbly and David Haslam (1-16) also took a crucial wicket. This victory leaves Moore’s team with an outside chance of escaping relegation from the Premier League of the Saturday third team structure.
Meanwhile on Sunday, Mark Crumpton’s fourth team welcomed champions elect Southport and Birkdale to Winstanley Road. The visitors batted first and were allowed to recover from 96-7 off 22 overs to post 177. Arthur Moore capping a brilliant spinning weekend for the Moore family with five wickets, Terry Leaford took three wickets and James Leyland plus Declan O’Shaughnessy with a wicket apiece. Despite being in with a chance of victory at 103-5, Crumpton’s team finished 130 all out despite contributions from Oliver Mahoney (continuing his fine recent form with 57) Leyland (21) and Moore (17).
Also on Sunday, Matthew Hayes’s fourth team were back in action as they visited neighbours Wigan. The hosts won the toss and elected to bowl first. After a shaky start, Orrell recovered to post 176-9 declared from 45 overs. Garry Wilkinson top scoring with 50, Dominic Hayes with 40, Alfie Clarke with 29 and Matthew Hayes with 19. Despite the hosts keeping up with the required rate, wickets continued to fall at regular intervals and they were bowled out for 141 in 31.3 overs. James Edgington finishing with figures of 1-21 from eight overs, James Such (2-32) Tom Wilkinson bowled very skilfully to take 2-11 from five overs, Tom Such (1-35) Alfie Clarke with 4-12 from only 3.3 overs. This was a fine win for a team consisting of nine juniors including 8 under 15’s.
The club would also like to congratulate Matthew Hayes, Matthew Wareing, Luke Unsworth, Ben Mahoney and Dominic Hayes on their contribution to the Wigan and District Junior Cricket league under 18’s team who have won the Lancashire Cricket Foundation under 18’s interleague competition beating much larger leagues in doing so. A great effort for such a small junior league.