Written by Gary Hayes
Orrell’s T20 team completed back-to-back Wigan Cricket Development Group T20 Championships on Sunday at a packed, sun-drenched Winstanley Road. Having received a bye in the semi-final due to the withdrawal of Leigh, Captain Sam Heeley and his team watched the Highfield versus Chorley semi-final with interest as they awaited their opponents in the final.
With Highfield winning a very entertaining semi-final, it set up the perfect scenario of a local derby final between two proud and well-run cricket clubs.
Asked to bat first by Highfield skipper Ryan Hargreaves, opening batters Andy Baybutt and Ammer Mirza got the Orrell innings off to a steady start in the first two overs. Baybutt then ran through the gears as he unleashed a series of boundaries to leave Orrell in a good position at the end of the powerplay.
As well as taking a stunning catch to remove Mirza, the introduction of Madduma Lakmal into the attack significantly slowed the Orrell run rate and he clean bowled Baybutt for 36 as the Orrell batter looked to find new scoring areas. This left the score at 55-2.
The Orrell innings was in danger of becoming becalmed and posting an insufficient total. This was until Mark Waddington produced an innings that transformed the situation. Waddington unleashed a series of huge sixes to all parts of the ground. At 141-2 entering the final overs, Orrell looked to be in a good position to post a large total- with many observers considering 180 was achievable.
Disaster struck however as Everett was dismissed for 32 attempting a ramp shot which saw him caught at the ’45’ fielding position behind square on the leg side. Waddington then followed 51 to leave Orrell 141-4 and with two new batters at the crease. What followed, in the face of some admittedly inspired bowling by Highfield’s Sam Rotherham and Jamie Darbyshire, saw a complete meltdown from the remainder of the Orrell batting line-up as they were all out for 159 with four balls of the innings left. A collapse of the type that is not often seen in any format of the game.
As Highfield had comfortably chased down a similar total in the semi-final, then the game was very much in the balance at this point. Orrell’s opening bowlers Dominic Hayes and Dileepa Jayalath bowled good opening overs to wrest the momentum of the game back slightly. A potentially pivotal moment in the game happened when in the third over of the game Highfield’s Indian first-class batter Vishvaraj Jadeja was dropped off the bowling of Hayes at mid-wicket. Thankfully, this did not prove to be costly as Hayes got Jadeja caught by Heeley at mid-off in the same over to leave the score 19-1. With the introduction of the Orrell first change bowlers, Highfield batters Hedley Molyneux and Ben Gregory started to increase their scoring rate. At this point, Heeley brought Hayes back into the attack and this had the desired effect as Gregory was caught by Richard Everett with the score on 49-2.This brought the dangerous Lakmal to the crease and, after his excellent innings in the semi-final, Orrell knew this would be a key wicket. They shot themselves in the foot as he was dropped twice in the same over off the bowling of Hayes.
When Alfie Clarke had Molyneux caught on the deep mid-wicket boundary by Heeley with on 58, this brought the dangerous Harry Moxham to the crease. Moxham played a similarly fearless innings to his semi-final knock and unleashed some large sixes off the bowling of Clarke. However, when he tried similar in Hayes’ last over, he was caught at long on by Jayalath to leave the score at 79-4. When Clarke clean bowled Lakmal to make the score 86-5, then Orrell knew that the game was now theirs to lose. After earlier sloppiness in some of their fielding, they displayed a ruthless streak with Waddington, Heeley and Jayalath taking wickets at regular intervals. When Heeley trapped Callum Martlew leg before wicket, Highfield were all out for 108 in 17.5 overs. A 51 run victory for Heeley and his team. Hayes was the pick of the bowlers with 3-21, Jayalath took 2-16, Heeley 2-17, Clarke 2-40 and Waddington 1-13.
On Saturday, Orrell’s first-team entertained Formby in much different weather conditions which saw a series of rain breaks throughout the day. Having won the toss and elected to field, there followed an intriguing contest between Formby opening batters Callum Turner (in imperious form recently) and County second team player Ollie Sutton, against Dominic Hayes and Sam Heeley. Hayes secured a crucial breakthrough when he had Turner caught at second slip by Mark Waddington. In between rain breaks, skipper Heeley entrusted the spin pair of Dileepa Jayalath and Alfie Clarke to bowl at the strong visiting batting line-up. Whilst wickets were taken, runs came also and Formby declared on 200-5 from 37 overs. Hayes finished with figures of 1-22 from 7 overs, Clarke 2-50 from 8 overs and Jayalath 1-75 from 15 overs.
There were around 35 overs left in the days play for Orrell to chase down the victory total. There was a general feeling that the Formby declaration had come too late to force a positive result in the match for the home team and this was reinforced when Ammer Mirza was adjudged leg before wicket with the first ball of the Orrell innings. Andy Baybutt and Richard Everett looked to overcome this early setback and keep the scoreboard ticking over. With the score on 35, Baybutt was adjudged leg before wicket and this appeared to have moved the momentum towards Formby. However, both Everett and the incoming Mark Waddington looked to be in fine form and kept Orrell up with the required rate. Having looked set for a big innings, Waddington played an ill-judged shot which saw him caught at deep mid-wicket via an excellent diving catch from Orrell old boy George Burrows. At 57-3, Heeley joined Everett at the crease and the Orrell forward momentum continued until Heeley got a leading edge to a ball he was trying to play through his leg side and was caught at mid-off. At 95-4 and time running out, a draw became an increasing probability. Entertaining cameos from Matthew Hayes and assisted Everett secured Orrell an additional batting point as they finished on 169-6 from 35 overs. Everett finishing unbeaten on 86 from only 90 balls- another excellent innings from the home-grown player.A pleasing result for Heeley and his team against one of the league’s leading lights and a result that stops a run of recent batting collapses and will hopefully instil some confidence back into the batting line up.
Meanwhile on Friday, Orrell played their long-awaited Centenary game against an MCC 11. Batting first, the visitors made 180 in 48 overs. Dileepa Jayalath took 3-14, Dominic Hayes 1-37, Alfie Clarke 2-18 and Steve Unsworth 1-12. After being in a spot of bother at 32-4, an unbeaten 152 run partnership between Sam Heeley and Alfie Clarke saw Orrell to victory by six wickets with around seven overs of the days play left. Heeley finishing unbeaten on 75 from 97 balls and Clark unbeaten on 65 from 66 balls.A massive thank you to the MCC and their players for their participation in what was a very successful day. A big thank you also to Martin James for umpiring and to Gillian James, Emma Parkinson and Lucy James for their outstanding catering throughout the day.
Back on Saturday, Steve Unsworth and his second team found little respite from their recent struggles with a defeat away at Formby.Batting first, Orrell made 169 all out in 53.3 overs. Ben Mahoney top scoring with 45, Mark Crumpton with 31, David Cheetham scored 24 and Unsworth himself 21. In reply, the whole team sauntered to a nine-wicket victory in 32.5 overs. Arthur Moore taking the solitary wicket to fall.
Also on Saturday, Alan Moore’s third team stayed in the promotion hunt with a comfortable victory over Bootle.Bootle were bowled out for 59 in only 29.2 overs. The skipper himself led the way with figures of 3-5, Zach Abbott 2-12, Joe Whiteley 1-9, Tom Wilkinson 3-12 and Emily James 1-3. Chasing such a low score, Orrell strolled to a seven-wicket victory in only 19.5 overs. After George Mushahwar (18) got the innings off to a solid start, an unbeaten fourth wicket partnership between Geof Burrows (16) and Gregg Lea (14) saw Orrell to a comfortable victory.