Runcorn still at top despite rain
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RUNCORN Cricket Club’s first XI had to settle for a draw last Saturday as their match at Haslington was curtailed by rain with the home side just embarking on their turn at the crease.
James Wells and his side produced a strong batting display and were confident going into the field as they looked to bowl Haslington out.
However, poor weather meant the game had to be abandoned and Runcorn were left feeling disheartened after missing out on a victory.
Skipper Wells admitted it was disappointing to see the game being called off early but he was pleased with how his side started the encounter.
There were strong performances from Jordan Grobbelaar and Ben Clissold with the bat which were encouraging signs.
“The game on Saturday turned out to be a bit uneventful due to it being abandoned halfway through,” said Wells.
“It was a disappointing because we were doing well and I think we could have gone on to pick up the victory.
“What I will say is, we got off to a flying start. Jordan Grobbelaar and Ben Clissold were scoring an average of six runs an over in the opening 10.
“That pace didn’t slow down throughout the whole of the first innings and we managed to amass 226-7 off our 45 overs.
“Jordan was immense and he scored 120 runs.
“He batted all the way through the innings until he got out on the last ball where he was caught on the boundary.
Ben also got on the scoresheet with 33 after a strong start to the match for us.”
Despite his disappointment, the Runcorn captain admitted the game had to be called off and his side can take positives from their performance.
He hopes Runcorn can build on the confidence they picked up at the end of the first innings and carry it through to this weekend’s fixture.
“We were confident and ready to bowl them out when the rain came so it was a real shame it ended,” said Wells.
“However, there were 10 min- utes of non-stop rain and the water absolutely flooded the pitch so the game had to be abandoned. We are still top of the league though and even though we could have done with the additional points, we got the draw and we’re still in a great position.
“Hopefully we can bounce back this weekend and come away with maximum points and another victory.”
The firsts host Middlewich on Saturday afternoon, the game at Moughland Lane starting at 1.30pm.
Elsewhere at the club, an individual batting record was smashed on Sunday afternoon in the third-team’s clash with Macclesfield. Turn to page 60 for the full story plus reports from the first and second outfits’ matches. WIDNES need to look at the start of The Qualifiers in just over a week’s time as a fresh start.
That’s the view of Vikings co-captain Joe Mellor as his side prepare to fight for their survival in Betfred Super League. A slump in form saw Widnes lose their last three games of the regular season by a comfortable margin and allowed Leigh Centurions to sneak past them into 11th place with a final round win over Salford Red Devils.
Mellor said: “The dip in form we’ve had over the last few weeks is obviously not what we wanted. We had been in decent form before that; we’d won our three home games before the Wakefield one and played well in some of the away games too. We wanted to maintain some form and take some momentum going into the Middle 8s but obviously we haven’t got it.
“We’ll be looking to train well now as we prepare for what’s to come.
“There were some positives to take out of the Warrington game last Thursday. I think they had more of a first choice line-up out there than we had; you only had to look on the sidelines to see how many we had sitting it out. We spoke at full-time about acknowledging where we are and that we have to reset to go again in a couple of weeks time. It’s obviously not nice to be playing in the Middle 8s but we’ve got to put our heads down and play hard.”
The Vikings will have had more that a fortnight between games by the time they start their Qualifiers campaign.
Mellor believes the break will be useful for his team as they prepare to take on Championship teams who may be relatively unknown quantities.
He added: “It’s probably a good thing for us that we’ve got a decent break before we start again. We should have a few players coming back who’ve been out recently. We need to re-focus because basically this is our season now, starting with the first game in the Middle 8s.
“There’s no pretending that it’s not going to be tough but with something close to a full-strength team out there, I think we’ll be fine. Obviously, we don’t know a lot about the Championship teams at the moment.
“But as each game comes along we’ll watch some video and do our homework in a similar way to if we were playing a Super League team.
“More than anything we’ve got to turn up focused for each game and show what we’re capable of. We’ve been in the Middle 8s before which should have given us some idea of how to handle it. “A lot of it is about holding your nerve. “There’s no time for moping; we have to put it behind us and make sure we’re ready for these coming games.” ● Turn to page 63 for details of who the Vikings will face in The Qualifiers plus what boss Denis Betts thinks of the schedule ahead for his team.