Jamshed dents Denton as Thornham continue good form

Thornham carried on their recent good form in the Saturday sunshine as Denton were comprehensively beaten at Rochdale Road

Having won the toss returning captain Micklethwaite decided to have a bat. This looked to have been a decision that could come back to haunt Thornham as some excellent opening bowling from Neal and Mather made it tough for the Thornham top order.

McClure who has been rather impressive so far this season was the first to go as he chipped a catch to mid off. Micklethwaite joined Howarth at the crease but was soon bowled by an unplayable delivery to leave Thornham on 9/2.

Howarth (sponsored by Ian Howarth photography) was battling hard for the home side and picking the right moments to score runs. With Thornham in a spot of bother the team needed some partnerships but things got worse as Wiseman had to retire hurt with a leg injury sustained trying to play a cut shot. This brought Kashif to the crease but he didn’t last long as he was removed leg before off the bowling of Mather. Smith also followed shortly after leaving Thornham 54-5. Howarth had earlier chipped a catch to mid wicket for a well played 38.

Jamshed Raza, who hasn’t really had much opportunity since joining the club came out to bat. With some lusty blows all around the meadow, the home side passed 100. A partnership with Heywood (sponsored by N and I Groundwork) made Thornham’s start become a distant memory. Once Heywood departed Walsh knocked the ball around before Raza was out caught on 82 in the last over. Wiseman returned to the crease with a runner and to finish Pattison reverse swept the last ball of the innings for 2. Thornham posted a competitive 170.

With the recovery complete from a precarious position the home side turned to its bowlers to help get the win. The bowling which has been a strong point all season again troubled the opposition as openers Pattison and Heywood bowled tight line and length.

Heywood struck first removing Malik thanks to a smart catch from wicket keeper Walsh. Then the first of some excellent fielding happened as Captain Micklethwaite ran out Beeley with a direct hit from mid off. Bardsley followed as he was caught by Heywood off his own bowling. Pattison who was bowling well from the field end then finally got in amongst the wickets bowling Mather through the gate.

The next few minutes saw various Thornham fielders turn into Jonty Rhodes. This was the case in particular of Smith who caught what can only be described as a screamer after making up some serious ground. Smith himself was in shock that the ball stuck as the rest of the Thornham fielders mobbed him (sub fielder Harrop the exception, his earlier pint presumably catching up with him).

Heywood wasn’t finished with that and collected his fourth as Pattison (despite being pestered by a tipsy Treasurer and a furry dog as the ball was in the air) managed to take a superb catch on the boundary in front of the home crowd. Fines were to ensue for the celebration.

The introduction of Kashif who replaced Pattison after his 10 miserly overs resulted in a few lusty blows from Neal. It was Neal who looked to get up with the run rate. This brought McMahon (sponsored by S.Dobson) into the attack from the other end to break the partnership, and with his cheeky away swingers he quickly wrapped up the victory for the home side, finishing with 3 wickets.

Friday saw the opening t20 game of the season as the Thunder travelled to Oldham. The home side batted first and scored 132 from their allocated 20 overs. Kashif picked up 4 wickets. The Thunder failed to spark and finished 42 runs short as at the end of our 20 overs finishing on 90-8.

Another victory for the First team, and now there is a triple game weekend as Friday sees Friarmere travel to Rochdale road in the t20. Saturday sees a trip to our friends Prestwich to play their second team. Sunday then rounds off the weekend with the 2nd round of the championship cup as we travel to Reyner Lane to take on Ashton.


Heyside 2XI vs Thornham 2Xi.

Following the restricting of the 2nd XI due to the exploding hamstring of Lewis Hughes and the Self Isolation of the Skipper Mr Riley and the Tea Lady/Collector Mr Mansfield. The Skipper formally known as Marcus was asked to organise the rabble once more. In the usual case of having limited batting options. The skipper appropriately lost the Toss (useless tosser he is) and Heyside elected to bat.

With most of the Heyside batting line-up making their 2nd team debut after obviously struggling in the 1st XI team. They got off to a dubious start with an edge being dropped off Umair Ahmed at 1st slip due to the Tiger’s post vaccination hangover. Arron Hall responded by removing the need for 1st slip by bowling a beautiful in swinger and knocking out the leg stump. Leaving the score 9-1

Following this start the team were put to the sword by the batsmen Law & Robinson with a partnership of 110 over the next 13 overs. Only being stopped by Safwan Ehsan. The onslaught continued with the Heyside Skipper Chadwick hitting 72 off 53 balls. To stem the haemorrhaging of runs (the team were informed the projected score was 374 at this point,) the skipper reluctantly brought himself on and over the next 12.5 overs toiled away on the slow wet track to end up with figures of 5/51 having rolled back the years once more, during this spell he was supported by George Maloney who on his 2nd team debut took his first of hopefully many 2nd team scalps, however also due to nerves received 2 warning for bowling chin high beamers (though they did help to kept the batsmen in line.) Finally, Umair responded with 2 wickets at the end of the innings after his final wicket proceeded to bowl a unique over which included a variety of no balls and wides astounding the Umpire with his creativity. Heyside Finished on a just better than par score of 260 which was just over a run a ball.

The scene was set for a triumphant Thornham batting display however with many of the team having one eye on the Champions League final and the lovely burgers on offer back at the club many of the batsmen were quite obviously distracted. With the 5 making a combined total of 11 between them. Also, the umpire may have had his eye on the evening festivities with an almost record 4 LBW decisions. The only partnership of note was the Young Guns Arron Hall (20) & Umair Ahmed (24) who showed no fear and wasn’t interested in the Champions League anyway. Both played shots around the ground it looked like a Burton Wagon Wheel. After this the team rapidly fell being bowled all out for 76. However, on the positive note normal service should be resumed next week with the return of the famous 3 well maybe 2 of them anyway.

Thornham 3rd team was knocked out the cup at Clifton on Sunday. The Away side batted first and posted 177-4 with Obaid Iqbal scoring a half century. The hosts knocked it off 1 down thanks to a unbeaten Century from Zach Flaxman.