Several junior players from Prestwich have been putting in some “star” performances in indoor competitions during this autumn.
Sam Regan, Ben Pinkus, Ellis Compton, Sam Staley, Charlie Jackson and Tom Hatchett all played for The Northern Star Superkings in the recently concluded Autumn Blitz indoor cricket competition at The Cricket Asylum in Sowerby Bridge.
After an 8-game group phase, the team reached the semi-finals of the U16s competition where they lost to Walsden by 10 runs. A creditable performance by a young team.
Pictured above is the team that played in the semi-final.
The Northern Star Spitfires, captained by Charlie Jackson, won the recently concluded U13s competition in The Cricket Asylum’s Autumn Blitz.
The Spitfires went through the whole competition undefeated, winning all 8 group games before beating Lightcliffe Lightening and TCA Hybris in the semi-final and final.
Also in the U13s competition, Ariz Sajid and Sami Khan played for the Northern Star Seahawks – who were beaten semi-finalists in the same competition.
Northern Star Spitfires
The Northern Star Saints, with Oli Staley and Sami Khan in the squad, won The Cricket Asylums U11s Autumn Blitz by beating an older (every player was a year 8) Todmorden side in a tight final.
Having finished second, to Todmorden, in the group phase, The Saints put in a stellar performance to win the final by 18 runs.
Oli and Sami both performed very well throughout and excelled in the final. Sami showed great composure under pressure during the last pair of the Saints innings, bowled well and fielded outstandingly at point.
Oli opened the batting and kept very well – his performances throughout the comp ensured his selection in the team of the tournament.
Northern Star Saints
The Prestwich Pacers kept their nerve across their final 3 games to win Division 2 of the U11s competition in The Cricket Asylum’s Autumn Blitz.
At the start of the tournament, only a couple of members of the squad had any experience of indoor cricket. After a few heavy defeats, the team got the hang of the game and found themselves in Division 2 (of 3) after the first stage of the competition. The first game of phase 2, against Todmorden B, was lost – but then The Pacers went on a 5-game winning run to eventually prevail on finals day.
Kings Cross and Walsden were then beaten convincingly and a win in the final group game against Littleborough would see the Pacers with a slightly more favourable draw on Finals day. Littleborough were beaten by just 1 run – the first of an amazing run of results.
Finals day began with a rematch against Littleborough. Another nerve shredding game resulted in another 1 run win! The Pacers keeping their nerve to defend a total of 121. Having done incredibly well just to get to the final, the Pacers faced Kings Cross and posted a very competitive 132. Kings Cross fought hard and took the game to the last ball – Prestwich running out winners by, yes, you guessed it, 1 run.
Finals day was enjoyed by parents and players alike. For this group of players to win some silverware was a huge achievement. A good number of the team only started playing hard ball at the beginning of last season and, as mentioned earlier, were pretty much all new to indoor cricket.
Prestwich Pacers
Congratulations to everyone involved, who were:
Henry Lindop (who made team of the tournament), Kasra Taklimi, Luke Muir, Louis Avanessian, Sam Bardsley and Tom Allen – who played in each of those 1 run wins. Thanks also to Zac Berry, Sammy Hershcovitch, Daniyal Rafiq, Oli Staley and Sami Khan who all played in group stage games. Thanks also to Dan Allen who stepped in when coach Pete Staley was unable to attend.
