Norden CC 146/6 (18) Vs Shaw CC 57 (10.3)

So, tonight was the tale of two very different innings against the best team we've played all season.

It was great to be given the opportunity to play at a CLL ground, even if that meant a travel which almost everyone negotiated easily! A huge thanks to Jon and Paul for stepping in and organising the lads whilst head coach was battling and losing against the Mancunian traffic.

Alfie and Lucas opened the bowling and kept things tight against some in form openers on a small ground. Alfie bowled their opener in the 3rd over and Lucas eventually making a further breakthrough in the 6th over helped by a catch in the deep from brother Freddie.

This brought some explosive hitting to the crease but the positive response from the bowler and the fielders to each and everyone of these was a credit to Shaw. Euan, Noah, and Freddie chipped in with wickets.

Isaac was yet again incredibly tidy behind the stumps with a number of full length stops and a neat caught behind and a stumping in one. All of this was to the tune of new recruit George, who despite being the youngest was by far the loudest and most enthusiastic in the field.

It was great to see some great fielding on display, with a great catch from Theo and some especially smart pick-ups from Theo and Kav out on the boundaries which saved countless runs.

At the time of writing, I can't confirm this, but I think we took more Norden wickets than any other team this season, proving how well we had done.

Euan and Noah then opened the batting unfortunately Euan couldn't quite clear a fielder before Oliver came in and hit the biggest six of the day before getting out. Freddie and Alfie both hit impressive boundaries before the return of yes, no, yes, no, no, yes cricket which I hoped we'd left behind at under 15s!

Onwards and upwards for the under 18s! We'll remember the positives and learn from the difficult parts.
Royton away on Thursday night! Good luck to those cheering Latics on this Wednesday!

The Neil Callan Player of the match award was presented to Lucas for some very tidy bowling and 2 wickets.