Match Report

The thirds ground out a much needed win to prise themselves out of the dreaded bottom three with a satisfying win against Denton West. 

In difficult batting conditions, it was not ideal to run out your opener without facing a ball, but that was the fate that befell Anuj when last Sunday's man of the match was unable to respond quickly enough the his skipper's call in the very first over. 

The middle order chipped in 24 from Ethan, 23 from Dan and another mature knock of 41no from Owen, to push the score to 125-7 in a rain affected 34 overs and it was a brave man who would, at tea, say who were favourites. 

The reply started with just eleven runs before Tom struck and precipitated the most ridiculous innings from a number 3 batsman ever seen, as a massive slog off ball one went through the the keeper and a massive slog ball two went into the welcoming arms of Owen (pictured), who simply doesn't drop them. A partnership of 49 then swung the game in the visitors' favour before Owen and Ollie provided a classical seam/spin partnership to remove seven West batsmen for 27 runs as they were unable to cope with the uneven bounce and moving ball. 

Ollie (pictured) rolled back the years with 4-23 and Owen completed yet another all round cameo with 3-22 before Oscar snaffled a final catch to alleviate the last wicket nerves that had started to jangle a bit after they'd put on 17. 

So Lakeside and Monton's defeats lifted Mac's boys out of the zone for now, with games in hand putting their final fate in their own hands.