The firsts produced another stunning victory on Saturday,this time against near neighbours Roe Green who had inflicted some heavy damageon us in recent years. With such a young side, there are bound to be someinconsistent performances, but this was on a new level as young and not soyoung combined to send the visitors home with their tails between their legs.
Steve Mac succumbed early, but a batting masterclass byGareth Cross put the 'Green' attack to the sword in stunning fashion. At vitaltimes, he received support from his young team mates, firstly when skipper Samand Caleb were dismissed leaving the score on 61-3 and again when both Jack andBen went for three runs apiece in the middle order. In the first instance, itwas Praharsh (31) that once again stepped up to the mark, his runs and wicketsin recent weeks proving vital. He took the score to 138 in a partnership of 77with an increasingly fluent Gareth who had passed fifty during thatpartnership. There was a stutter in the middle, but Crossy simply changed gearand the ball was treated to a series of classy cricket shots. At 177-6 ZachFlaxman strode to the wicket with just five and a bit overs remaining andGareth approaching a hundred. The two then simply took the bowling attack apartand with 200 on the horizon with two overs remaining, pushed the score to 237-6with 41 runs being scored, the two batters registering six sixes (three each)within the space of seven deliveries. Zach finished with 25 off 18 balls, butit will be Gareth's run a ball 141 not out that will live longest in thememory.
The visitors' response started positively, but with 28 onthe board inside seven overs, Ollie struck for the first time, clean bowlingJoe Ball. Seven runs later Gareth produced his stock wicket-to-wicket deliveryto vitally trap the 'Green' professional lbw, before Ollie took over, bowlingwith aggression and wiping out the middle order. Luke Williams completed hishalf century but could find no support from within the batting ranks until AndyHough, facing firstly Ollie's hat trick ball, joined him. Ollie finally ran outof steam with 6-71 against his name, only to be replaced by Finn, who promptlydismissed Houghy and then followed up four overs later by tempting Batsmannumber 11 into lofting a catch to Steve Mac and securing a resounding 95 runvictory. So, it's a trip to Horwich next week with the prospect of the winscolumn equalling the loss column with a victory, a prospect that looked verydistant after four successive defeats in April.