Clifton 2nd XI made the trip to picturesque Bradshaw on thefinal day of the heatwave. The story of the Second XI campaign has often beenone of absences, with players regularly stepping up to help the First XI. Thisweekend was no different. With both the captain and vice-captain unavailable,while Owen and Jordy were away with the First XI v Royton, the question beforea ball had even been bowled was simple: who was going to step up?
After losing the toss, stand-in skipper Elliot led histroops into the field on the hottest day of the year so far.
Opening the bowling, Tom Worthington set the tone superbly.His opening spell of seven overs included four maidens and two deservedwickets, while at the other end Sasiraj Pushparajah matched him with someexcellent control and found a surprising amount of movement off the pitch. LewisKeogh then built on that platform brilliantly. Producing a fine display ofinswing bowling, he claimed a deserved three wickets and ensured Bradshaw nevermanaged to build any momentum. Further tidy spells from Dan Jones and SamWinstanley kept the pressure on, with Winstanley removing Bradshaw’s numbereight.
With Clifton short of their usual spin options, Elliotturned to his part-time leg spin on a dry surface offering some turn. A caughtand bowled with his very first delivery was followed by another wicket as hefinished with figures of 2 for 18 to wrap up the innings and get the lads intosome much-needed shade.
Oscar Thorpe and Ethan Kite made a composed start to thechase before Thorpe was unfortunate to be bowled by a delivery that did plentyoff the surface. Dan Jones then joined Ethan at the crease, with the pairputting together an excellent partnership to put Clifton firmly in control.Ethan continued his fine recent form with a well-made 35 before eventuallybeing dismissed.
From there, Jones took the game away from Bradshaw with asuperb 50 from just 36 deliveries. While the strike rate catches the eye, theinnings was built on composure and quality rather than brute force, as hemanipulated the field, found the gaps with ease and made the chase lookstraightforward. It was an innings the younger Clifton players watching fromthe Bradshaw balcony could learn plenty from. Jones eventually fell after usinghis feet to the spinner and being stumped, but by then the result was all butsecured. A short stay at the crease from Sam Winstanley edged Clifton closerbefore Lewis Keogh needed just one ball to finish the job, crashing it to theboundary.
Overall, it was another excellent afternoon for an extremelyyoung Clifton side featuring no fewer than four Under 15 players. The oldsaying that “you’ll never win anything with kids” certainly doesn’t seem toapply at Clifton CC.
Results elsewhere also went Clifton’s way, with theKingfishers climbing to the summit of the table just in time for back-to-backfixtures against the teams currently sitting second and third. Two huge gameslie ahead.