Greens shine in sun with capture of Cheshire Shield
ON Sunday the Green entertained Barrow in the Final of the Cheshire Shield Cup in glorious sunshine and in front of a large crowd.
The Barrow skipper Iroshan De Silva won the toss and asked the Greens skipper, Josh Hampson to bat first.
The Greens opening pair Hampson and Jordan Henderson faced the Barrow opening bowlers Joe Williams and Pandy and after an explosive start which saw 16 runs from the first over it all went awry for the Green as first Hampson was bowled by Williams for 5, 18-1, then new batsman , Paul Needham, was bowled around his legs by the same bowler for a duck, 18-2, and in the next over Henderson was caught Mumford bowled Pandy for 7, 18-3.
The new pair at the crease Peter Richards and Jack Needham have been at the centre of many match winning partnerships for the Green and how this was needed now, at first both were very cautious having a good look at the bowling and the wicket but gradually they started to dominate and the partnership flourished with a series of boundaries and maximums.
With the score on 112 and the Greens supporters relaxing a little Jack Needham was stumped by keeper Lee Dwyer off the bowling of Sultan Raja for an excellent 44, next to the crease was man in form Ben Littler and he and Richards kept the scoreboard ticking until Richards attempted to sweep De Silva and was bowled for 61 including seven fours and three maximums another excellent innings that brought the Green right back into the game, 149-5.
Littler was joined by Sam Messih and both kept the scorer busy in a partnership of 29 in quick time before Littler was bowled by De Silva for 19, 177-6.
Not many teams are blessed with the quality of a batsman such as Dylan Heginbotham coming in at no. 8 and he did not let his team mates down as the score moved on to 204-7 when Messih was out for 21 useful runs, Heginbotham finally fell for 31, 220-9, and the Greens were eventually all out for 224 giving the bowlers a useful total to bowl at.
The Barrow response was led by De Silva and Dwyer facing the Greens attack led by Heginbotham and Jack Needham and the response started disastrously with Dwyer run out, by Jack Needham, first ball of the game selflessly giving his wicket away so his captain De Silva could stay at the crease, but it was later to unfurl as the game progressed that you had to be very wary of De Silvas judgement of a run, in the same over Heginbotham accounted for new batsman Alex Reid bowled for a duck, 1-2.
Next to fall was Jay Afride bowled Heginbotham for 13, 21-3, new batsman Nissanka came in at the time skipper Hampson introduced slow bowlers Jordan Henderson and Mark Richards into the attack and the pair as they have done so many times in the past put a stranglehold on the game and the runs dried up for the next 16 overs, Nissanka eventually fell to an excellent catch by Heginbotham off the bowling of Mark Richards for 26, 76-4.
Next to the crease Phil Johnson lasted just four balls before he was bowled by Henderson for a duck, 80-5, new batsman Nick Mumfor became another casualty of indecision when he was run out by Jack Needham for 6, 88-6.
Peter Richards was introduced into the attack with the Greens 3rd slow bowler George Ridings and they kept the Greens stranglehold on the game as Peter dismissed Joe Williams for 10, 106-7, and then had Pandy smartly caught by Jack Needham for a duck, 114-8 and when Sultan Raja was bowled by Ridings for 3, 140-9, the game was as good as over and so it was when De Silva fell to an excellent catch on the edge by Peter Richards off the bowling of Jack Needham to leave Barrow all out 162 and a well deserved victory.
Throughout the innings the Green showed their abilities in both bowling and fielding once again beating a team from the County League.
The trophies were presented after the game and Jack Needham was given the Man of the Match trophy.
Next week the Green are at home to Heaton Mersey wickets pitched 12 noon.