Rochdale vs Norden 1st XI – Sunday 31st August
The home team won the toss and elected to bat, but were immediately in trouble either side of the rain breaks with Harrison (0), Harling (1), Chapman (0) and sub-professional Pope (0) all falling victim to the excellent Masqood. Resistance was required and Harry Butterworth batted well for his 30 before going caught and bowled by Lord. Skipper Makin looked intent on occupying the crease. He saw off Masqood, who finished with 5-15 from his 13 overs. Makin had moved on to 21 before a slip and some very sharp work by Jack Taylor at mid-on had him dismissed run out. The tail didn’t wag and Rochdale finished on 79 from 24 overs. Lord bowled well for his 2-15, as did Taylor for his 2-5.
The Stags reply got off to a great start as the ever positive Humphreys took Harling for 8 in his first over. Disaster struck in the next over though as he turned for a sharp two and injured his knee, having to be carried from the field. The Norden professional was in at 3 and was soon sent packing by an excellent delivery from Pope. It pitched outside leg and clipped the off bail, an absolute belter.
Skipper Crabtree (8) and Jack Taylor (11) looked to be positive, but with both gone and the inexperienced McKeown and Yates at the crease with still 43 runs required the home side most of fancied their chances. However, any hope was short lived as McKeown (30*) including five 4’s and Yates (15*) with two 4’s and a 6 as the Stags romped home by 7 wickets and over 20 overs to spare.
Scorecard : http://www.lancashireleague.com/Scorecards/1373/1373335.html
Norden vs Rochdale 2nd XI – Sunday 31st August
The day started with a bang when some of the Rochdale players decided to announce their arrival by letting fireworks off over the neighbours houses on Shawfield Lane. The rain soon put a dampener on things with a few rain breaks meaning the game was reduced to 27 overs a side. The Stags were not bowling or fielding well, and the Rochdale openers Anwar (52) and Faulkner (32) added 94 for the first wicket. The only bright spot was an excellent spell from Modessar Hussain of 8 overs 3-18. Kabi made 41 and Abdullah Khan 34 (off just 19 balls) as the Dale scored an imposing 182-4. The Stags lost Kirkby (0), Malik (10) and Hussain (22) in the early exchanges before Docker with a run a ball 35 and Sam Butterworth (29) steadied the ship. When both departed the Stags still needed 84 from 10 overs to reach the revised DLS target of 207. Kearns was joined by O’Neill and the Stags put on a firework display of their own. Kearns was brutal in his 55* off just 36 balls with three 4’s and four 6’s. O’Neill was equally as devastating with his 38* coming off 23 balls with one 4 and three 6’s. The Stags romped home with 17 balls to spare. An excellent last third to the game securing top division status for Dockers men.
Scorecard: http://www.lancashireleague.com/Scorecards/1373/1373666.html
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCATTJ0tKSc
Norden vs Todmorden 3rd XI – Saturday 30th August
With a dire forecast set from 3pm it was always going to be hard to get a result as Jimmy’s boys chased an unlikely promotion. Early runs from Crabtree (27) and O Henderson (30) saw over 80 runs on the board for the loss of only 3 wickets. However this soon changed to 92-6 the Stags fancied their chances of wrapping the 1st innings up and have a quick bat, but the Todd lower order had other ideas. No.8 N Barker scored 19 and no.10 C Barker 32* to make sure Todd completed their 40 overs, finishing on 147-9. For the stags it was the spin twins Bebb (2-33) and Gooding (3-39) who took the wickets. During the break the inevitable deluge came and no more play was possible.
Scorecard : http://www.lancashireleague.com/Scorecards/1373/1373930.html