With the 2nd XI losing in their top of the table clash on Saturday, the 3rd XI made no mistake on Sunday with a convincing win against their closest pursuers, which has now opened up a gap of 17pts between Elliot’s men and the rest of the league.
After winning the toss and opting to bat, it looked ominous for the visitors when Ethan and Dan dominated the early exchanges, and they looked a beaten side after 15 overs as Clifton ticked along to 80/0 in cruise control. It took a false shot from Dan (50 off 44) to make the break through, who followed up his Saturday ton with another half century, to now make that two centuries and three 50s across the last 3 weekends. His reaction on giving his wicket away on 50 here told you he thought he’d left a few out there incurrent form.
Ethan continued with positive intent, putting on a 50 partnership with Owen Hogben before finally playing one shot too many and falling for an excellent 63. The clean hitting and intent from Ethan this season has been a joy to watch and he fully deserved to convert his recent promising form into a 50. Owen continued to nudge and run where a 70 run partnership with Lewis Keogh really took the game away from the visitors. This pair love batting together on a Sunday and run teams into the ground.
244 was put on the board, with all of the top 4 batsman scoring half centuries, and all of them still juniors. Dan 50, Ethan 63, Owen 56* and Lewis 50. The future of Clifton is bright.
The start of the mammoth chase also looked bright for the visitors, with a couple of gorgeous lofted cover drives sent soaring to the boundary informing the crowd that the opener could bat. But in the 4th overcame the important breakthrough, with young Oscar Thorpe snicking him off to be caught behind by his dad. Oscar’s excellent opening spell brought further reward a few overs later where he had the no.3 caught at mid on by Oli Dunn. Oscar finishing with excellent figures of 2-18 from his 5 over spell. 10 overs of rebuild and counter punching from the visitors got them back into the contest, but it was a sharp piece of fielding by Oscar to run out the dangerous looking no.4 to leave them 91/3, with 245 looking a lot further away than it did a few moments before.
The introduction of Owen Hogben from the top end twisted the knife with 3-43 from his 7 over spell, supported by 2-14 from 4 by his elder brother, Elliot, bowling from the other end. With the visitors 151/8, it was good to see youngster Harrison Keogh then given the opportunity to have a chuck. It was even better to see him shin up the no.10 first ball, followed up by cleaning up the hard hitting no.8 a few balls later to walk off with two wickets from his 5 balls bowled. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone walk off a cricket field with a smile as big as Harrison’s.
So Elliot’s men march 17 points clear at the top and they will take some stopping in this form. Next up however is the small matter of a Sunday Premier Cup Quarter Final at home to Greenfield, as they look to defend their title claimed so convincingly at Glodwick last August.