First XI report by Joe Pattison

Thornham suffer defeat to Stayley

Thornham travelled to Stayley on Saturday hoping to make it back to back wins. Captain McMahon won the toss and elected to bat on a bright sunny afternoon.

Having won the toss McMahon elected to open with Afzaal and Heywood and both started well. Afzaal was the first man to go when he was adjudged lbw to Shahzad who was very threatening with his opening burst. Heywood, who had earlier hit a few fours, soon followed having skied overseas player Seale to Healey.

A partnership was needed for the visitors and stars of the show from the previous week Micklethwaite and Hardy went about this until the former was caught at second slip, again off Shahzad. Howarth, recovering from a shoulder injury, returned to the side and it was like he hadn’t been away, scoring freely around the Millbrook ground. Hardy was looking good before being dismissed the ball after drinks to give former Bamford man Tipper his first. This brought fellow Sydney man Allison to the crease and he wasted no time upping the scoring rate as he smashed Abbas out of the ground before also falling to Tipper.

Howarth continued his steady accumulation as wickets began to tumble at the other end with skipper McMahon offering some support in a partnership worth 38. The innings ended with Howarth bringing up his 50.

With 187 on the board Thornham thought this would be competitive and the team had early reward with Clough removing opposing captain Gleave with the score on 1. Despite some tight bowling from openers Clough and Pattison no further breakthrough happened as captain McMahon turned to Heywood and Collins. Heywood finally got some reward as he removed Clayton who looked in good form, Micklethwaite taking the catch.

It was Barlow that was sticking around, riding his luck at times as Collins kept missing the outside edge. Tipper joined him at the crease and offered more resistance for the home side until Heywood again snared him out in the drizzle that was starting to fall.

Barlow wasn’t to be beaten and with little cameos from both Bird and Woodhead this helped the home side to victory with 5 overs to spare.



Thornham will be hoping to bounce back from this disappointment when Droylsden travel to Rochdale Road on Saturday.

Second XI report by Lewis Hughes

Thornham second team took on Egerton at Rochdale Road.
Thornham won the toss and elected to bat in favourable conditions and got off to a great start with opener Alec Mclure scoring 37, well supported by Obaid Iqbal with 27 at the other end. Mclure fell to a fantastic caught and bowled from Egerton all rounder Safi, the croud in disbelief at the catch. Captain Lewis Hughes came in and picked up where Mclure left off, scoring a pacey 36 off 37 balls. Matt Mansfield, Mohammed Adnan and Arron Hall all supported well but the star of the innings was Umair Ahmed, catapulted up the order from 11 to 8 and scored 43 from just 32 balls, including 8 boundaries. Thornham finishing on 251/9 off their 45 overs, a great team batting performance.

The second half didn't go as smoothly for the home team and Thornham missed a significant number of chances in the field despite the weather conditions now being favourable for bowling. Egerton middle order very nearly took the game away from the home team with Dawson and Thornley scoring freely, followed by some devastating power hitting from Safi who quickly reached his half century. But Thornham battle hard and Arron Hall and Mohammed Adnan took 4 wickets each supported by Malik Pervaiz who took 2 crucial breakthrough wickets. Arron Hall's figures were particularly impressive with 4 for 43 off his 14 overs. The game ended with a catch from Obaid Iqbal who took his third of the day, an excellent fielding performance from him.

Thornham sealing victory by 27 runs but the game was much closer than it should have been

3rd XI report by Matthew Collinge

Green shoots of recovery.

An overcast morning gave way to a fine afternoon at Rochdale Road as Thornham took on high-scoring Heywood.

Skipper Collinge lost the toss and was asked to field, which he didn't mind, given the drainage works behind the bowler in the adjacent field.

A fantastic 13 overs from Canavan and Fitzpatrick saw Heywood 25-3 before Clarkson and Leadbitter taking the innings away. A strong final ten overs saw Thornham pull it back from 216-4 to 243-5 off 40 overs.

In reply Thornham started steady but were never able to match the run rate. After 20 overs, Thornham were 69-2. A mix in batting saw Thornham all out for 139 all out after 37 overs.

Notable perfomances Collinge 30, Maloney 25, Canavan 3-25 off 10 overs..