1sts maintain 100 percent record whilst 2nds and 3rds suffer defeats.

Friday saw the start of the GMCL15 competition in the heat at Rochdale Road. Milnrow were once again the opposition as Thornham cruised to a 50 run victory.

Skipper Micklethwaite won the toss and elected to bat. Openers Scott Howarth and Tom Grey set off slowly assessing the awkward opening two overs before smashing the ball to all parts of the ground with Howarth reaching 43 off 25 balls before being bowled. Grey continued through to 28 before getting caught on the boundary. Chris Heywood with 21 and Mohammed Adnan 17 helped the Thunder reach a healthy score of 157.

The second innings Thornham always seemed to have control even though J Phillips top scored with a quick-fire 46. Tight bowling from Chris Heywood (1-8) and two big wickets from Paddy Mc Mahon (2-29) helped Thornham restrict Milnrow to 107.

Saturday saw Littleborough Lakeside travel to Rochdale Road in a Division E clash. Andrew Micklethwaite retained his 100 percent toss record for the season again electing to bat. That decision looked like it could have backfired on the captain as Thornham lost Howarth, Micklethwaite, Wiseman, Heywood and Abel before the scoreboard had reached 30. Thomas Smith opened in the absence of Mansfield, batting throughout the innings in difficult conditions to reach 42 and a partnership of 19 with Joe Pattison allowed Thornham to scramble 86.

The second innings didn’t start that well for Thornham as Lakeside reached 35 before the wicket of Rizvi, Riley catching off Heywood’s bowling. An inspired bowling change saw captain Micklethwaite bring himself on to turn the game on its head. Micklethwaite, having his first bowl of the season at one point had 3 wickets while conceding zero runs, removing several Lakeside batsmen in quick succession to leave the away side struggling on 42-7. Heywood struck again dismissing ex-Thornham player Zohaib Shah and eventually victory was sealed with a Micklethwaite direct hit from backward point sending the Thornham players wild. Micklethwaite finished with outrageously impressive figures of 6-7 from 7 overs and in tandem with Heywood’s 3-19 this saw Thornham secure another victory and 5 pts to reach the top of the table.

The second team travelled to Glodwick hoping to get their first win of the season however that wasn’t to be, and after being asked to bat first on a wet wicket Thornham reached 113, Obaid Iqbal top scoring on 45 for the away side. The star of the show for Glodwick was 13 year old Amelia Sammons who took 3-12 from her 5 overs removing last weeks hero with the bat Alec McClure, Aaron Hall and Umair Ahmed. The home side knocked the target off inside 25.4 overs, Umair Ahmed taking all 3 wickets.

The third team welcomed Shaw on Sunday having lost to Greenfield last week and were also hoping for their first win. The day didn’t start well as Thornham lost the toss meaning Shaw elected to bat first. The openers for the away side set off like a train reaching 100 inside 16 overs. Ben Pilling top scored with 86 for Shaw and with some hard hitting towards the end of the innings Shaw posted 211 from their allocated 40 overs. Thornham’s innings hardly got going and despite Adnan’s 50 the home side fell 104 runs short having been bowled out for 107.

Next weekend sees the Thunder travel to Royton on Friday evening in the GMCL15 competition. Saturday sees the Seconds host Ashton at Rochdale Road and the first team on the road to Clifton 2nds. Both games start at 1pm. The thirds make the short trip to Milnrow on Sunday. The bar is open on Saturday from 3pm with it being card payment only and outside service due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.