Saturday saw our first team welcome Woodbank CC to Manchester Road. Winning the toss, the Clifton skipper elected to start the game by batting. After seven overs Clifton were 14-1 after losing Settle to an unfortunate catch, bringing Meyer to the crease. Both Dorsey and Meyer kept the game steady and with 40 overs gone both batters had hit their 50's, with the Clifton score of 132 with 10 overs to go. Dorsey and Meyer made a quick switch into second gear and started hitting the ball to all corners and in the last over of the innings Sam Dorsey celebrated his first senior 100 for Clifton CC.
The Clifton innings ended at 227-1 with Sam Dorsey ending on 100* and Max Meyer on 93*.
The second innings started and Woodbank had a decent score to chase, which they were willing to fight for. After 10 overs Woodbank fell one player short leaving them at 32-1 after being caught by Richard Dempster. Halfway through the innings Woodbank were 98-1 which was looking like it was going to be a very close game, which indeed it was. A change in both bowlers, bringing in Hamilton and Turner, Woodbank started to up the anti. 30 overs in, Clifton found a break, with Ayres bowling Abbas out, leaving Woodbank at 130-2. Ayres dismissed two more in over 33 with one catch from Jordan Higham. With 10 overs left Woodbank were 147-3 which was looking promising for Clifton. Meyer and Ayres had a positive bowling spell and Meyer managed to get his first wicket for the club with help from Hamilton with the catch.
It all went down to the last over of the game. Woodbank started the over with only 8 runs required for a win. Hamilton was on to bowl. A 6 flew over the boundary just two balls into the final over, making it look more promising for Woodbank. The Woodbank batter tried to attempt the same shot but fell short, the ball landing straight into Turners hands. The new batter arrived and on his first ball was run out with the help of Turner and Flaxman. Things were on a knife edge as with 2 balls left, Woodbank needed 2 runs for the win. The new batter started on strike and on his first ball ended up being run out by Hamilton himself. In what was an incredible final over, the final batter hit the ball but couldn’t reach the other end in enough time before being run out by Higham and Flaxman. With 4 wickets in the final over Clifton ended by one run and five points were awarded to the home team.