The first team came back to form with a bang after two outstanding wins at the weekend.
Stuart Els and Lewis Smith both hit brilliant maiden centuries to kickstart the resurgence as they amassed 311 for 3 in their league encounter at Heyside on Saturday.
Els smashed an unbeaten 169 off 147 balls, and consisted of 18 fours and 8 sixes.
He shared in a pulsating stand of 222 with Smith who cracked 109 from 128 balls, made up of 14 boundaries and a six.
The home side were dismissed for 222 as Ryan Maddock (5-61) and Nathan Bailey (3-77) took the lion’s share of the wickets.
Maddock’s return was his sixth 5-wicket haul for the club and took him to 100 wickets, up to 37th alongside Tony O’Brien (1982-91).
James Wharmby’s 2 catches took him to a total of 306, one ahead of Steve Orrell.
On Sunday, the 1sts were involved in a thrilling finish at Woodbank to progress to the next round of the Derek Kay Cup – winning with two balls to spare.
Woodbank had reached 165 for 3 (Ryan Barker 58no) – with wickets for Charlie Jackson who opened the bowling, Andy Bradley and Nikhil Gangta – when heavy rain caused a two-hour delay.
It meant Woodbank were unable to re-start their innings, but under DLS calculations, Prestwich faced a stiff-looking target of 211 in 32 overs.
James Wharmby was back on song, striking an excellent 72 (his 52nd first team 50) to set up a platform, aided by 37 from Smith and 31 from Gangta, before Maddock (34no) and Bailey (10no) held their nerve superbly to take their side from 184 for 7 to the finishing line.
Skipper James Wharmby was back in the runs as he spearheaded the Prestwich chase at Woodbank.
Smith’s weekend run exploits took him to 1056 first team runs – joint 59th with Geoff Tootell (1971-78) and a place ahead of Cliff Berry (1948-53).
The 2nd XI made a valiant effort to chase down a total of 208 set by United Stars 1sts on Saturday.
Andrew Beet (3-22), Uwais Khaliq (3-43), Muhammad Arif (2-32) and Sam Staley (2-40) did their best to restrict the league leaders.
The 2nds finished on 172-9, thanks to a stubborn 42 from skipper Steven Lorenzini who helped steady the ship from 44 for 4, firstly in a patnership with Adam Cheshire (32) and then Tom Ward (30), giving rise to hopes of victory by taking the score to 154 for 6 but a late capitulation meant they had to settle for a point.
On Sunday, the rain again affected their Cup clash at Denton St Lawrence. The Saints were bowled out for 139 (Uwais Khaliq 3-20, Muhammad Arif 3-28, Andrew Beet 2-25, Khalid Noori 2-30) and included 4 catches for Lorenzini, before an interruption for rain. On resuming, the DLS method meant Prestwich had to reach a target of 90 which they succeeded in doing courtesy of an unbeaten 41 from Dan Ahern and 21 from Khaliq.
The 3rd XI were out of luck in their cup game against South West Manchester, losing on a bowl-out. Prestwich had made 156 for 6 (Adam Taylor 60 no, Umar Arif 24, Ali Sherazi 20) when the rain lashed down and prevented any further play. Only Umar Arif hit the stumps as Prestwich were bundled out 2-1.
However, it was a different story for the 4ths who won their cup game with a bowl out by 3 hits to 1.
It was a productive day for Mike Orrell as he took 3 for 50 and was one of the Prestwich bowlers to hit the stumps, alongside Anees Arif and Richard Hatchett. Earlier, Whalley Range had been dismissed for 143 (Ariz Sajid 2-14, Tom Hatchett 2-31) before the heavens opened.
The 5ths recorded a 77-run victory against Unsworth 3rds after setting a score of 167 for 9. Chris Heys top scored with 53 (retired).
Unsworth were then dismissed for 90 with good returns from Jamal Oryakhali (3-8) and Oscar Ireland (2-16).
