Stalybridge St. Paul’s CC 2nd XI vs Old Glossop CC 2nd XI (home) & Dinting CC 2nd XI (away)

Two games in two days, see defeat on both occasions for the 2nds, but a completely different set of results.

At the beginning of the season, when we played Old Glossop, my report stated I thought they’d be top of the league come the end, and with two games left after today, they’re currently 23 points ahead of 2nd place Hayfield, with a result still to be declared, so I wasn’t expecting a great deal out of yesterday’s result, especially given today’s match was against Dinting, who were a place above us in the table, and therefore seemingly a “six pointer”

Old Glossop completing their 45 overs, for the loss of just 3 wickets, put 188 on the target board, after Brian lost the toss and put the home side into the field, with opener Jamie Cannon putting on 43 before given out LBW for the first of Peter Coxon’s two wickets, but it was Andy Dwyer coming in at number 4 that did the damage for the visitors, who managed to finish on 83 not out.

After the interval, Stalybridge were unable to mount any meaningful attack, with only Steve Monks hitting 30, though Krunal Bhatt was looking good until being paired with habitual “run-out partner” Brian Stone, saw him, unsurprisingly run-out on 22.

With Brian Stone finally caught with just three balls left in the innings, the home side ended 60 runs short of victory.

Final result and scorecard: Old Glossop CC 2nd XI win by 59 runs.

Just a day later, and the 2’s were the visitors to Dinting for the second time in a month, though this time without the benefit of this scorer’s son, who hit 52 in that game, and is at the time of writing sunning himself on a beach in Spain, the git!

In a similar vein to yesterday, Brian won the toss, and put his team in the field, but in stark contrast, today’s bowling was absolutely excellent, once opener Brandon Stonehouse was dismissed, after putting 41 on the board in just 30 balls, the remaining wickets fell like flies, with nobody else topping fellow opener 1st Team player, Rudi Leibenberg’s 13.

Ned Woodman was denied his 5fer, firstly by dropping a diving catch off his own bowling, which would have been amazing, and secondly having a catch over-ruled by umpire J.J. Smith as a no-ball, but still finished his bowling session 4-12 off just 7 overs, but it was Ajeet Kaintura who took plaudits for the visiting bowling attack, with 6 wickets for just 14 runs conceded, the last of which completing Dinting’s innings of just 73 runs by snapping the bails in half, and sending them 20 feet behind the stumps.

Victory was there for the taking, Stalybridge had 66 overs to get 74 runs.

Unfortunately, just as Stalybridge had exploited this seeming bowling track, so too were the home side able to capitalise on it.

Just before the end of the opening over, opener Stu Nock was dismissed for a duck, not the start the visitors wanted, but the first of five such scores, it would turn out.  Rudi Leibenberg was just placing them on the toes of the batsmen and umpire Smith was happy to slowly stick his finger in the air and declare it L.B.W.

Stalybridge hadn’t even reached the start of their regulation 45 overs, and were nine wickets down for TWENTY EIGHT runs, just ¾ of an hour into their innings, staring at the biggest defeat for the 2’s I can remember (which to be fair doesn’t mean much given my memory), but Mark Connolly coming in to partner captain Brian Stone gave the away side a glimmer of hope, by doing what the rest couldn’t and that was to avoid the LBW trap, and slowly started to put runs on the board, with the tension rising, it looked like Stalybridge were going to be able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, managing to stay at the crease for as long as the rest had taken to get out, exactly 45 minutes, but with the final ball of his 12 overs, and 10 runs short of the target, Leibenberg took the off-stump out of the ground with a bullet of a delivery, to dash the visitor’s excitement, and secure victory for Dinting, a good effort though Mark, unlucky lad.

Final result and scorecard: Dinting CC 2nd XI win by 9 runs.

In better news, the firsts won both of their games this weekend, today’s against Charlesworth and Chisworth on the final ball of the innings, and guarantee promotion to Division 2 next season, but are still short of the points score guaranteed to secure championship status.  Well done to Jamie Brownhill’s lads.

The final two games for the 2nds see a visit to the best teas in the league at Compstall next Saturday, and then a home match against Birch Vale for the final game of the 2018 campaign on the 15th.