The top teams in the Premier Division continue to exploit the lower teams for points with top of the division Flixton A taking on Nomads A and winning 25-3 with nines from Stephen Scowcroft and Paul Cicchelli while just two points adrift Ramsbottom Cricket Club C beat Little Lever A 25-5 with Sean Doherty and Amirul Hussain on maximum points. The match between Hilton A and Radcliffe Cricket Club, who were close together in the tables, on paper should have been a close result. However, this went Hilton’s way 26-7. Ramsbottom Town A overcame Ladybridge A 26-8 with nines from Michael Moir and Andrew Jackson. Wharton beat Heaton Cricket Club A 24-10 with nines from Barry Elliott and Ian Mclean. Bottom of the table Coburg A put up a good show against Flixton B, which again on paper should have been a good win for Flixton. Instead they were held to a very close Flixton win 18-17.
There was a similar situation in Division 1 with high flying Burning Desire trouncing Hilton C 27-1 while second placed Acre Bottom also achieved maximum points beating Meadow Ben A 27-5. Nomads B exploited Farnworth SC A without it’s top player, beating them 25-7. There were closer affairs as Coburg B beat Ramsbottom Town B 18-13 despite a resisting nine from Keith Howarth and Little Lever CC B just outdid Wingates 19-16 thanks to a nine from Roy Costello.
In Division Two mid-table Hilton E put up a good show against Heaton CC B just losing out 19-15 thanks to a nine from Heaton’s Duncan Kay. Now firmly established in second place, Hilton D overcame second from the bottom Boyzone 23-6 with nines from Matthew Fishwick and Roy Alty while bottom of the table Top Spinners continued their struggle losing out 25-7 to Bolton TTC A with nines from Nayem Alam and Kirit Chauhan. Heaton Cricket Club C C just beat Ladybridge B 20-16 despite a resisting nine from Brian Greenhalgh.
There were two close matches in Division 3 with Meadow Ben C just outplaying Farnworth SC B 21-16 thanks to a nine from Ian Wheeldon and Farnworth SC C just pipped Ramsbottom Town C 17-16 helped by a nine from Dave Rogers.
Division Four’s junior team, Hilton I, at the top of the Division, exploited lower placed Albany with all players on maximum points 27-2. Now third placed Meadow Hill A in a local derby beat Meadow Ben D 22-11 with nines from Roy Caswell and Roy Platt. Hilton’s other junior team, the J team, went down to Irlam Steel 24-11 helped by a nine from Neville Singh. What? This has to be his best result of the season.
As the first half of the season draws to a close the remaining two weeks will be pivotal to the outcome of the season as in many divisions the top teams will be taking on each other.
