Wilkinson collects stunning nine-scalp haul
BRAMHALL bowler Simon Wilkinson took a remarkable 9-26 to help his side to victory at struggling Urmston.
Following the success of the past couple of weeks, where Bramhall had followed up winning the Cheshire T20 crown by beating Toft in the league, the team arrived at bottom placed Urmston in confident mood.
On winning the toss, Nick Cantello again opted to bowl first, hoping to restrict the home side on what is usually a high scoring ground. It was Urmston, however, who seized the early initiative, sending in Australian McMaster to start the innings at a high tempo, as he threw his hands through anything full and raced to an enterprising 50 in short time.
At 99 for 0 from 20 overs, Urmston looked ideally placed for a massive total, but the complexion changed when Simon Wilkinson enticed McMaster down the track and had him stumped.
From this point on, Wilkinson and Luke Littlewood were able to apply a real strangle on the batting side, with Wilkinson getting appreciable turn from the wicket Urmston had prepared with their own spinner, Lancashire’s Matt Parkinson, in mind.
This plan looked to have backfired, as Wilkinson bowled Callum Parkinson and Yates in the same over, leaving the home side with a rebuilding job to do.
Oldham then had a rush of blood and was stumped in similar fashion to McMaster, in an attempt to get the scoring rate going again, before skipper Turner was well caught by Cantello at slip, giving Wilkinson his fifth.
The carnage didn’t end there, with the late order offering scant resistance against Wilkinson’s spin, as he took another four wickets in a two-over spell to leave Urmston’s innings in total disarray.
Ifti Naseer then immediately picked up the tenth wicket, leaving Urmston 141 all out after such a promising start, and Wilkinson with the remarkable figures of 9 for 26 from 16 overs – the second best in Premier League history.
Knowing that the wicket was tailor made for spin, Urmston opened up with Lancashire’s Parkinson, but Dale McKay and Cantello were soon into their stride, punishing anything loose and setting up the chase nicely, until McKay was undone by a good ball from McMaster.
Danny Lamb was not hanging around though, and combined some clever shot placement with brute force, twice hitting balls into the adjacent school (including one over it!) and bringing up a rapid 50 before being trapped lbw.
Despite losing a couple more wickets (Cantello for 38 and Naseer for 10), Bramhall were never in danger of not winning the game, and Adam Wilde and James Crisall saw them home with plenty of time to spare.
This was a convincing victory, and Bramhall will hope to take the momentum into next week’s crunch league game at home to Neston on Saturday, and the ECB T20 National Area Finals Day at Anglesey’s Menai Bridge on Sunday 7th, with Bramhall’s match starting at 10am