The 1st team would have been locking horns with Flixton this weekend, which last year provided a feast of spectacular big-hitting.
Ali Azmat smashed 114 – the best Prestwich batting score at their ground – but was out-batted by an even more brutal innings of 115 not out from Marlon Welcome-Goodman giving Flixton victory in a game which witnessed 32 sixes!
The best bowling figures at the ground was Andy Bradley’s remarkable 5 for 4 in 2016.
The 2nd team would have been hosting Dukinfield 1sts yesterday while today would have seen the 3rd XI at home to Whalley Range 3rds.
Flicking back into the archives takes us back to this exact weekend in 1983 when the Prestwich & Whitefield Guide was advertising another showing of ET at the Mayfair Cinema in Whitefield.
The main feature down at The Heys was the first team’s defeat of Woodhouses and a starring performance by Bob Hinchliffe.
The report read as follows:
“After a week in the second team, Bob Hinchliffe stormed back to first team form with magnificent figures of 7-27 to demolish Woodhouses.
The match was finely balanced until Hinchliffe set about his path of destruction. He took the last seven wickets to fall for just nine runs off 38 balls.
Prestwich had set a target of 186 and Woodhouses were travelling well at 104 for 2.
Hinchliffe’s dismissal of their professional Yates for 68 ignited the flame which gutted the rest of the Woodhouses batting line-up, and they could only reach 138 for the loss of nine wickets.
Ken Morgan had been the star of the Prestwich innings. He made light of his years and hit a gutsy 70, giving a delightful display on onside strokes.
Prestwich got off to a flying start. Gethin, as usual, was quick to punish any loose bowling and hammered four 4s and a six in his 23 before being given out caught behind, although he did not appear to hit it.
Prestwich had to battle tenaciously to establish a sizeable total as the pace and bounce of the wicket was variable due to overnight rain.
Lorenzini had whacked a six over extra cover before playing too soon and sending a comfortable catch to Hepple at mid-off. Wright was harshly adjudged lbw, and McFarlane lost his stumps, both without scoring.
Captain Harry Lewis added a valuable 24, which included two elegantly executed sixes, played with one knee on the ground. Then Hinchliffe demonstrated the ‘six and out’ policy in his brief appearance.
Morgan was eighth out, having spent nearly three hours at the wicket, and Prestwich were greatly indebted to his splendid innings. Newton swung the bat and reached double figures before being bowled off the last ball of the 45 overs.
Woodhouses got off to a very confident start and put on 55 for the first wicket in good time. Lewis provided the necessary breakthrough and along with Wilcock, succeeded in putting a brake on the scoring.
When Woodhouses reached 100, they needed to score at about five runs an over and had eight wickets left.
A close finish looked on the menu but little were we to know that Hinchliffe was going to serve up the speciality of the day.”
SCORECARDS:
Prestwich 1st XI
P Gethin c Martin b P Thompson 23
K Morgan c Sloan b Hepple 70
G Mooney c Hepple b Kingham 3
B Lorenzini c Hepple b Kingham 23
N Wright lbw b P Thompson 0
I McFarlane k Kingham 0
H Lewis c Hepple b Sloan 24
R Hinchliffe b Sloan 6
R Cobham c Thompson b Hepple 7
D Newton b Sloan 13
P Wilcock not out 2
Extras 15
TOTAL (all out) 186
Woodhouses 1st XI
S Yates c Newton b Hinchliffe 68
A Starmer lbw b Lewis 10
R Newton c Lewis b Wilcock 4
G Martin not out 33
D Robinson b Hinchliffe 0
D Kingham c Gethin b Hinchliffe 0
B Thompson c Wright b Hinchliffe 5
S Reeves b Hinchliffe 1
M Hepple b Hinchliffe 1
D Sloan not out 0
Extras 15
TOTAL (for 9) 138
Wilcock 1-31, Newton 0-29, Hinchliffe 7-27, Lewis 1-31, Cobham 0-5
(one batsman is missing from the Woodhouses scorecard).
