It was a weekend of mixed fortunes with both Saturday teams enjoying wins in their respective leagues but then both going out of the cup the very next day.
On Saturday in a low scoring game over in Monton, Prestwich 1XI spluttered their way to 122 with only three players managing double figures. Lewis Smith’s 43 the only real highlight of the visitor’s innings.
But Prestwich’s struggles with the bat were emulated by the home side with Pro’ Nico Van Zyl taking 6 wickets for just 24 runs, a club best at that ground surpassing Ali Azmat’s 2019 haul of 4-33. Charlie Jackson supported well with super figures of 3-6 from 6 overs with Ryan Maddock picking up the remaining scalp as Monton fell to 76 all out.
Prestwich currently sit in 3rd place in Premier 2 on 17 points from 5 games played and 5 points off leaders Brooksbottom.
On Sunday, Prestwich’s defence of the Derek Kay Cup ended following a 4 wicket loss at Premier Division leaders Edgworth. Tom Gibson (pictured above) top scored with 54, another best for the club at Bolton Road beating Lee Dale’s 38* in 2019, as James Wharmby’s side finished on 212 all out in the 45th over.
Despite a superb spell with the ball from Charlie Jackson against one of the best sides in the league, Edgworth’s reply was dominated by their Australian pro Tom Rogers. His 85 ball 114 helped send his side through to the next round with 8 overs to spare.
Back to Saturday and Prestwich Seconds joined up with four other teams at the top of the table following a 44 run win over early Division 3 pace setters Daisy Hill.
Tarun Kumar (4-29) and the returning Wilf Reeve (4-52) did the damage for Prestwich as they successfully defended a first innings total of 173 all out, skipper Dylan Kane (34), Thomas Orrell (31) and Adam Cheshire (27) the main run scorers from the first innings.
Dylan Kane top scored for his side in the win against Daisy Hill.
The following day’s cup tie at home to Westhoughton was a close affair but one the home side ended up on the wrong side of.
Losing the toss and being put in to bat, half centuries for Hassnain Ashfaq (62*) and Sam Baldwin (50) helped push Prestwich up to 191-7 from their 45 overs.
But despite having the visitors in a spot of bother at 40-4, a couple of healthy middle order partnerships gave the Bolton side hope. Hope which was unfortuntaley realised in the final over when Pindoria found a boundary to send his side into the next round.
With no 3XI or 4XI games this weekend, it was left to the Fifths to bring home a win from their friendly down in Stoke against Sandyford CC.
Greeted by a warm welcome and glorious sunshine, Richard Hatchett’s team were invited to bat first.
Playing their first ever pink ball game, the 5s soon lost their top order and were struggling at 17-3. Thankfully batters four to nine all reached double figures to help post a competitive score of 180-9.
Max Sworder scored a boundary laden 30, Christian Millington with 20 but Dave Ireland (pictured) stole the show with an impressive 44 not out which included a unbeaten last wicket stand of 37 with Emal Mayakhail.
After a generous helping of teas the tourists turned to having a bowl with the pink ball. Mike Orrell with 3-13 lead the attack supported by several bowlers taking a wicket each.
Sid Chopra finished the job with two wickets in four balls to leave the hosts 24 runs short of their target and make it 4 wins from 4 for Prestwich so far this season.
