Winning start to the season for Widnes
THE 2018 season for Widnes Cricket Club’s first XI got underway successfully with a win at Upton last Saturday afternoon.
The new campaign saw several debutants for Widnes. This was due to several of last year’s squad being unavailable this season. It also saw a new skipper with Tom Evans taking the captaincy over from Chris Kirby. Saturday’s debutants were Qamar Hafiz, Majid Majeed, Johnathan Campbell and Rob Magee.
Due to the exceptionally wet pre-season weather, the outfield and wicket at Upton was soft and slow.
Evans won the toss and elected to bowl first. Widnes’s opening bowlers were ex-Dutch ‘A’ team player Qamar Hafiz and Daniel Wearden.
And it only took until Hafiz’s third over for him to get his first wicket for Widnes bowling Matt Owen for four with the score on 10.
In Hafiz’s next over he also bowled Johnny Whitley-Bayley without scoring leaving Upton on 14-2.
Chris Stowell-Smith now came to the crease to join Upton’s overseas player Chris McArthur they then took the total onto 59 when first change bowler Alex Hewitt trapped Stowell-Smith leg before for 12.
Hafiz soon returned to the attack and with the total on 91 bowled Dan Owen for 11.
This brought to the crease ex-Chester Boughton Hall player Ross Dixon who along with McArthur upped the run rate.
The latter reached his half-century having ridden his luck after being dropped twice.
Rob Magee came into the Widnes attack and took the crucial wicket of McArthur, caught by Hafiz, having scored 74 with the total now 135-5. ●
Another vital wicket of Dixon came next with Majeed running him out with a direct hit for 27.
Upton captain Tom Marsland and Darren Warburton again tried to increase the run rate but this proved costly as the latter was stumped by Will Myers off the bowling of Majeed.
The last wicket of the Upton innings came on the last ball of their 50 overs with Hafiz finishing his bowling debut with his fourth wicket, that being David Williams who was bowled for two.
Upton’s innings amounted to 181-8 off their 50 overs.
The Widnes innings saw regular openers Kirby and Matt Burns take on the Upton bowling attack.
This all seemed to be going to plan until Kirby was bowled for 10 with the total on 21.
This brought to the crease Zimbabwe overseas player Campbell.
Unfortunately this did not prove to be the debut he had hoped for as he was bowled by Liam Sundve without troubling the scorers.
Majeed was the next batsmen in. He immediately took the attack to Upton dispatching his second ball out of the ground for six.
The total moved onto 39 when Burns was stumped off Dixon’s bowling for 16.
The next batsman in, Mike Byrne, added seven before being trapped lbw by McArthur.
Alex Hewitt then joined Majeed in the middle and they both set about stopping Upton’s bowlers taking a stranglehold on the game. They batted extremely well together keeping the scoreboard ticking over whilst sending any bad balls to the boundary.
They both managed to reach their half-centuries during a partnership of just over 100. Hewitt was bowled 11 runs short of the Upton total having scored 57 runs from 95 balls containing seven fours and a six.
Magee came to the crease to help Majeed pass the Upton total in the 47th overl, Magee finished eight not out, whilst Majeed contributed an unbowed 86 off 89 balls with two fours and six sixes.
Widnes, who bagged 25 points with the win, are next in action this Saturday when they entertain Urmston at Beaconsfield Road. The game starts at 1pm. ● Widnes’s second XI entertained a strong Upton team at home.
Widnes bowled first and Upton posted 212-8. Benjamin Hewitt took 3-44 while Stephen Dean snapped up 2-31.
In reply, Widnes were bowled out for 102. Phil Catterall top-scored with 47 with opener Billy Webb adding 22. The seconds travel to Urmston this Saturday afternoon. The match starts at 1pm. ● Adult training is on Thursday evenings from 6pm and is open to everybody if you want to try your hand at some cricket. ● Junior training starts in full tomorrow evening at 6pm. Enrolment is also taking place for the next few weeks also at the same time. Junior training is open to all ages and abilities. Youngsters are all warmly invited to try cricket first without committing. Junior membership for a year is only £15.