Longton show powers of recovery to see off challenge of Cheadle
ED Jones admits he made a bad call at Cheadle on Saturday, but was relieved to see his Longton side dig deep to hold off their NSSCL Premier Division rivals.
Longton, who finished as runners-up last summer, won by 10 runs, but that tells only part of the story from an afternoon in which both sides held sway at various junctures.
And the fact the match went on into the early evening owed much to Longton’s batting depth after they had made a nightmare start to the encounter.
Jones had won the toss and elected to bat at Tean Road, although he was rueing his decision as Longton slumped to 40-6.
It could have become 41-7 when Jones was dropped with just a single to his name... but he joined forces with sub pro Ashar Zaidi to lead the Longton recovery.
The pair put on 98 for the seventh wicket - and with Zaidi then finding Richard Williams game company, the visitors were able to recover to 207-9 at the end of their 45 overs.
Cheadle looked in control in reply, reaching 141-3, but collapsed to 197 all out.
Longton skipper Jones said: “It was a classic case of staying in the game.
“We know we can bat deep, but at 40-6 I didn’t expect us to post a score above 200. Ashar was fantastic for us and set the pace of the innings and we just needed to bat with him. Thankfully I was able to do that.
“Cheadle bowled really well up front, but in hindsight I probably made the wrong decision at the toss.
“The wicket was green and had a lot of grass on it, but was dry underneath. We thought it might go up and down later on.
“But it moved about a fair bit early on - and Matt Goodwin and Jimmy Sellers bowled superbly.”
Goodwin and Sellers worked their way through the Longton line-up, but former Sussex and Essex man Zaidi, plus skipper Jones, blocked their progress with a key partnership.
Jones was eventually dismissed for 74 by opposite number Goodwin, who finished with 5-38, while Zaidi ended up falling for 65.
The duo, though, had rescued Longton from a precarious position to at least give them a total to defend.
Not that it looked like being enough once Andrew Coxon (38) and Austen Crump (33) guided the home side to a position of strength.
But with memories of last year’s meeting fresh in Longton minds, the match followed a similar script.
Last summer Cheadle had
snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by losing their last seven wickets for 11 runs.
Their demise wasn’t as rapid on Saturday, but Zaidi’s spin yielded 3-17 and there were double strikes from pace aces Alex Coates and Shaun Rashid to ensure the outcome was the same.
“We did have last year in our minds,” added Jones. “We were behind the eight-ball then as well and we knew that if we took a couple of wickets we could go through them.
“It helped with the self-belief. There was a period where we didn’t take a wicket, but we knew
we just needed a bit of magic and Rich Williams provided it by dismissing Ali Khan.
“I think one of the reason we won is that we had seven bowlers we used. If someone has an off day it doesn’t have to cost you.
“We also held a few of Ashar’s overs back until later on, which proved to be critical.
“It was such a great game of cricket, though, and proves how successful the win/lose format is. Both teams really played it well and went all out to win.
“This format is the way forward in my opinion.”