Bollington edge home in tight finish

BEFORE their win against Warrington at the weekend, Bollington were looking to make it two wins from three as they took on last year’s Premier League side Marple at the recreation ground.

The home side decided to field first after winning the toss, and with a tight opening spell from Joe Binder and Faiz Kippie, Marple could not gather any momentum as they passed the 10 over mark with just 25 on the board.

With the pressure mounting on the batsmen to score runs, opening batsman’s Andrew Hall hit one straight to Dickinson off the bowling of Binder to see the home side take their first wicket of the afternoon.

Almost immediately after Binder struck again, this time bowling Bennett for 13 and gave Bollington the early advantage after 15 over with the scores at 31-2.

Kippie deservedly got his first wicket of the day removing Radford for six, which meant Marple were left with a lot to do at this early stage in the game. As drinks approached Bollington were well on top with the scores at 49-3.

Both Kippie (24-1) and Binder (34-2) bowled excellently as they ended their impressive spells. A mini revival gave Marple an increased chance of taking something from the game as they put on 30 runs for the next wicket, before Plant bowled Wood for 23.

Dickinson was in the wickets this time, taking Bollington’s fifth of the afternoon off a catch from Henshall seeing the away side struggling at 91-5.

A bombardment of wickets was to follow and Plant and Dickinson put on a tidy partnership as Plant (4-28) took another three wickets and Dickinson (2-25) one, plus a run out from skipper Hough saw the away side all out for a very reachable score of 130 for victory.

Initially, Bollington made extremely light work of the run chase as they bought up their 40 mark off just five overs as Dickinson and Hough made light work of proceedings.

However, Hough was caught LBW off the bowling of Wylie for 16 to put a dent in the chase. After only celebrating his 17th birthday in the week, Harri Dickinson brought up his first half century for the club going at more than a run a ball to give the home side an uninsurable advantage as the home side were sitting comfortably at 100-1.

Just as it seemed that Edgar and Dickinson would guide Bollington to victory, Edgar was bowled off Greasley for 17 and then Dickinson was caught behind for 63 which saw the scores at 111-3.

All seemed too little too late for Marple, before two quick wickets, Kippie and Henshall, gave them a lifeline. However, Jake Dickinson (12*) and Plant (6*) saw Bollington home to take full points and their second victory of the season, which saw them take up fifth position.