In murky, wet conditions, the 3rds travelled into the West Yorkshire hills (Greater Manchester Hills doesn't have the same ring to it) to take on old adversaries Greenfield. Having already soundly beaten the Yorkshiremen earlier in the season, confidence was high as Macca won the toss and decided to bat.
It might, perhaps have been a toss that he'd prefer to have lost as it can't have been an easy decision, especially when the top order collapsed spectacularly with four of the top seven registering big fat zeros. Ollie Dunn and Dan Jones then ground out runs manfully, interspersing the partnership with boundaries as the bad balls were dispatched. With 58 on the board, a three figure total looked possible, but Dan succumbed and although Ollie (22) continued to dig in and the tail prodded around carefully with every run being exalted by the travelling band of brothers and sisters, we had to be satisfied with a paltry 85 all out.
There was a look of purposeful endeavour in the way that Macca's men strode out into the field after tea and with the faithful chat juggling around the possibilities for an opening partnership that would put the ball in the "right areas", Macca went for Ollie and young Oscar Thorpe (who must be sick of being called 'the young' by now, so I will desist). Ollie struck almost immediately in over three, but it was overs 5 to 10 that ripped the hosts apart as the score advanced from 6-1 to 17-7. The disintegration was once again initiated by yet another stunning stop, pick up and throw by Owen Hogben that saw him propel the ball like a missile from behind keeper Mac to the non strikers' end where Ollie completed the formalities.
Fired up massively, the bowlers' and fielders' grip on the hosts was formidable with Ollie finishing his spell with 3-11 and Oscar an impressive 3-7.
As always in these circumstances, an improbable partnership of 42 popped up out of nowhere, to threaten to dampen the celebrations, but Tony Potter's anti clockwise circuit of the playing area broke the partnership and Dan and Owen, along with another well constructed run-out ended the resistance to secure a thrilling nine run victory and send the fanbase home with severely gnawed fingernails.
It's worth noting the discipline shown by the fielding and bowling attack in terms of 'gift' runs after Greenfield had contributed 28 extras, almost a third of the total, to our cause, whereas only eight were donated by Macca's men, including a remarkable one wide in the entire innings. In such tight matches, these skill sets are vital to the cause.