A close finish at St. Georges Oval
Westhoughton CC welcomed our 1st XI to their home, St. Georges Oval, this week. Clifton’s skipper lost the toss and was asked to have a bat. Clifton’s opening partnership started well with Dorsey (15) being the first batter to depart after 16 overs leaving Clifton with a score of 47/1. 6 overs later saw the departure of Settle (30) leaving Clifton with a score of 61/2. Ayres was next in joining Meyer. The Clifton pro lasted 5 overs before being caught out. Hamilton and Richard Dempster didn’t have too much luck with their batting leaving Meyer waiting at the stumps for the next batter. Howarth (26) and Meyer (61) made a good partnership, putting on a useful 54 for the 6th wicket. The Westhoughton Pro had a good day with the ball picking up 5 wickets and bringing the innings to a close with a score of 185 all out in the final over of the innings.
The second innings started in our favour with Danny Higham dismissing 3 of the Westhoughton batters within the first 10 overs, the score sitting at 20/3. 30 overs in, both Richard Dempster and Hamilton were successful in taking wickets leaving Westhoughton 6 players down with just under 100 runs to chase in 20 overs. Unfortunately for Clifton, with around 12 overs left, Hamilton had to depart from the field with an injury leaving Clifton with only 10 players on the pitch. Westhoughton took advantage of this and started hitting. It took until the last over where Clifton dismissed the final batter after a catch from Dorsey, leaving Clifton winning by 8 runs, bringing a crucial 5 points for the Kingfishers.