Orrell’s first team welcomed Southport and Birkdale to Winstanley Road as they looked to extend their unbeaten run.Home skipper Sam Heeley won the toss and chose to bat first in what looked to be another excellent wicket prepared by groundsman Mike Abbott.
Things did not initially go to plan for Heeley and his team as first Matthew Hayes was caught behind on the leg side fending a short- pitched ball off his body and then Andrew Baybutt left a ball that bowled him.This left Orrell in potential trouble at 9-2.Richard Everett and Mark Waddington set about rebuilding the Orrell innings whilst also managing to take the attack to the visitors bowling unit. Both batters looked to be in ominous form as visiting skipper Chris Cunningham rotated his bowling options to try and stem the flow. The elegant Waddington looked set for a large score until he was caught behind for 31 attempting a late cut that he feathered to the keeper to leave Orrell 75-3. Everett was then joined by Matthew Wareing and the home momentum continued. With the score on 144, Wareing was next out as he hit a low full toss to mid-off when attempting to hit it for a boundary. When Heeley was caught at mid-on attempting to keep the scoreboard ticking along, it left the score at 156-5, with honours now potentially even after the earlier Orrell dominance. Everett meanwhile continued to mix boundary hitting with astute shot placement and was joined in the middle by Dileepa Jayalath. After being dropped early in his innings at mid-wicket, Jayalath proved to be good foil for Everett as the homegrown number three bat brought up a well-deserved century in front of a large, appreciative crowd. Everett eventually departed for 117 whilst Jayalath brought up a well-constructed maiden half century for the club as he finished unbeaten on 58, as Heeley declared on 280-7 from 55 overs.
The Orrell bowlers knew that the visitors batting line up, whilst young, was extremely talented.A potentially pivotal moment happened early on as Lancashire second team player JJ Fielding (with two league centuries already this season) was dropped behind off the bowling of Dominic Hayes. Thankfully, this did not prove to be a major setback as Fielding was dismissed by a sharp caught and bowled chance from the skipper to leave the score 32-1. A probing and tight opening spell from both Heeley and Hayes, meant that, whilst only one wicket fell, scoreboard pressure would be a factor for the visitors.The introduction of Jayalath into the attack saw two wickets fall quickly to leave Southport and Birkdale 38-3.A further two wickets for Jayalath, one for Heeley and a run out from Dominic Hayes saw the visitors in trouble at 73-7 with plenty of time left in the days play. Some outstanding lower order hitting from the visitors’ Romario Brathwaite (who had an interesting day having taken an early wicket but then being taken out of the attack for bowling two beamers) saw the scoreboard tick beyond 100. Jayalath eventually got his man to secure his first 5 wicket haul for the club. With the visitors now looking to secure a draw, the job was still not done for the hosts.Jayalath eventually took his sixth wicket via a caught and bowled chance and then Hayes took the final wicket to leave the visitors 111 all out in 36.1 overs- an Orrell victory by 169 runs. Jayalath capped his finest day for the club so far with 6-51, Heeley took 2-26 and Hayes 1-23.
A very professional performance by Heeley and his team.
Heeley’s team were in T20 action on Friday evening as they began their defence of the Wigan T20 Cup with a home game against Norley Hall.Batting first, Orrell made 171-6 in their 20 overs. Matthew Hayes top scored as he anchored the innings with an unbeaten 52. There were also significant contributions from Heeley (37) Tom Jones (26) and Matthew Wareing (20).After a couple of early wickets knocked the stuffing out of the Norley Hall reply, they were eventually bowled out for 83 in 18.3 overs. All Orrell bowlers used were amongst the wickets with Dileepa Jayalath taking 3-15, Dominic Hayes 1-9, Terry Leaford 2-20, Alfie Clarke 1-27, Matthew Hayes 2-10 and Tom Jones 1-1.
The first team saw their Ray Digman Cup match away at Northern CC on Sunday rained off. The game will be rearranged at Orrell in the coming weeks.
On Saturday, a significantly understrength and inexperienced second team had a chastening experience at Wallasey as they were heavily beaten. Batting first, Orrell made only 115 all out in 46.5 overs. Skipper Steve Unsworth top scored with 25 and Under 15 Logan Pallett was the next top scorer with 22. The hosts cruised to a 9-wicket victory in only 24.2 overs. Phil Taberner taking the solitary wicket.
Alan Moore’s third team secured a 4-wicket victory in their ‘home’ game against Northern CC. The visitors batted first and were 76 all out in 39.3 overs with 2 wickets for James Such, two for Harrison Hurst and one each for Joe Whiteley, Tom Such, Charlie Sarath and Stefan Holmes.In reply, despite looking in trouble at 17-4, Orrell won by 6 wickets in only 25.4 overs with Thomas Wilkinson top scoring with an unbeaten 34 as he anchored the innings.
On Sunday, Mark Crumpton’s 4th team visited Formby CC and came close to securing victory.The hosts batted first and made 157-5 declared in 45 overs. James Edgington secured his second recent senior 5 wicket haul with figures of 5-28.Joe Whiteley took 1-34, Thomas Wilkinson 1-18 and Tom Such 1-34. In reply, after a solid start, delivered mainly by Logan Pallett’s 30, the young Orrell batting line up were not able to up the scoring rate sufficiently (not helped by only receiving 38 overs in their allotted time) as they finished 144-7. Harrison Hurst with 33 from 41 balls was the only one of the younger middle order batters to score at the rate required to secure victory.
Also on Sunday, Orrell’s Sunday Development Team welcomed Hightown St. Mary’s to Winstanley Road. Stand in skipper Alan Moore saw his young home team bowled out for only 83 on 31 overs. Moore himself top scored with 22. The visitors secured an 8 wicket victory in 30.2 overs with Moore and Georgia Warburton taking the only wickets.
A difficult period for Orrell’s Sunday teams as they are missing a number of key players in the 16-18 age range due to exam revision.