Orrell’s first team welcomed last year’s Premier League Champions Northern to Winstanley Road. With 15 year old Logan Pallett making his first team league debut for the hosts, Northern won the toss and chose to bat on what looked to be yet another excellent wicket prepared by groundsman Mike Abbott. Northern opening batters Liam Grey and Jac Kennedy got their team off to a solid start against probing bowling from Sam Heeley and Dominic Hayes. What would turn out to a key moment in the innings happened when Grey was dropped in his 20’s at first slip off the bowling of Hayes. Grey would go on to punish this mistake as he repelled the Orrell bowling attack who were not helped by a knee injury to Dileepa Jayalath that took him out of the attack. Despite two rain breaks, Northern declared with maximum batting points just after tea on 225-6 from 43.2 overs. Jayalath took 3-53, Hayes 1-48 and Heeley 2-120.
In reply, Orrell openers Matthew Hayes and Andy Baybutt got the home team off to a solid start against the visitors impressive bowling attack until Hayes was dismissed with the score on 39.Baybutt and Richard Everett then looked to be putting Orrell into a position to attempt a winning chase. When Baybutt was dismissed for 43, Mark Waddington looked to be in the form required to chase down the total. However, when Waddington was out with the score on 103, this initiated a flurry of wickets- including Heeley being adjudged caught behind- to leave the Orrell run chase holed below the waterline on 104-5.Everett (43 not out) and Hayes (12 not out) then saw Orrell to a draw as they finished on 138-5 from 50 overs.
On Sunday the teams met again in the rearranged Ray Digman Cup match. A very poor Orrell batting effort lacking the required application on a turning wicket that played into the hands of the visitors’ spin heavy bowling attack, saw the game effectively over by the end of the first innings as Orrell collapsed to only 93 all out in 32.3 overs. Despite Orrell taking 4 wickets (including two for Logan Pallett who bowled impressively) Northern cruised to a 6-wicket victory. A result that hints at a need for the first team squad to examine their attitude towards longer format cup games (including availability) on Sundays if the club wishes to consider itself, at some point in the near future, in the same bracket as the likes of the victors who treat every game as a must win game and accept playing Saturdays and Sundays on a regular basis and the challenges that poses in terms of preparation.
On Friday, Heeley’s team completed qualification for the Wigan T20 Finals Day (barring some strange results that affect Net Run Rate significantly) with a comfortable victory over Euxton. The visitors finished 103-9 from 20 overs with 3 wickets each for Dominic Hayes and Dileepa Jayalath. Despite two run outs, Orrell sauntered to victory on the back of 25 from Matthew Hayes and an unbeaten 55 from Ammer Mirza.
On Saturday, Steve Unsworth’s depleted second team made the long trip to Colwyn Bay. Batting first, Orrell made 136-9 with Terry Leaford top scoring with a half century. In reply, the hosts were in serious trouble at 27-5 but the second teams Achilles heel of poor fielding let them off the hook, as the hosts won by 5 wickets.
Also on Saturday, Alan Moore’s third team secured another impressive win with an 8 wicket victory over Northern. Northern were 73 all out in 31.1 overs. There were 3 wickets for Moore and George Berry along with 2 wickets for Gregg Lea and Harrison Hurst. Despite losing both openers cheaply, Mark Crumpton (33 not out) and James Leyland (30 not out) saw Moore’s team consolidate their second place position in the table.