Senior Cricket Round-Up - May 2025
Senior Round-Up
The 1st XI’s early season form sees them sitting 3rd in the GMCL Championship after the first 3 rounds of fixtures.
2025 got off to an impressive start with an opening weekend win against Greenfield. With 3 weeks of glorious weather in April, the opener was always going to be a case of which team can win the toss and bat.
Returning 1st XI skipper Stefan did just that. Mottram’s eventual score of 274 was built around Andrew Metcalfe’s imperious 101 opening up.
Scored at a decent rate off 118 balls, it set a brilliant platform for Stefan (40), Guest Pro Samit Patel (46) and Ryan Fitton (39*) to build from.
Greenfield’s chase started solidly enough with the openers reaching 69 without loss before Samit Patel trapped the opener LBW. From there Greenfield worked admirably to chip away at the 274 target but 3fer for Samit Patel and Daniel Brightmore (2/54) and Ryan Fitton (2/56) ensured they were always behind the rate and finished 22 short.
A week later came a trip to Swinton Moorside, where defeat was a real opportunity missed. The hosts found themselves reeling at 10 for 4 thanks to good early work from Mo Kamran (3/45) and Ismail Iqbal (2/31) but recovered to post a still seemingly below par 178.
In response 76 for 2 looked an excellent position from which to hunt down the target however an out of character batting collapse saw Mottram 136 all out.
The Bank Holiday weekend saw Mottram back at home, and back to winning ways. Win the toss and bat was the order of the day once more, with A. Metcalfe and Guest Pro Jacques Snyman (51 off 33) getting Mottram off to a rapid start of 71 off 10 overs.
From there the bulk of the Mottram runs came from the bat of R. Fitton (74*) who was ably assisted by Liam Tongue (27) and Daniel Brightmore (18).
Glossop had 236 to chase but lost wickets at regular intervals on their way to an eventual 172 All Out, 64 short. I. Iqbal did early damage once again (2/29) before J. Snyman (4/49) and R. Fitton (4/35) made sure Glossop finished well short.
For the 2nd XI, it’s been 1 win and 2 defeats so far in Division 5E.
The win came on the opening day, courtesy of a 5 wicket defeat of Woodley. Having won the toss and elected to have a bowl, Mottram got early reward courtesy of James Starr snaring the opener for 5. Alice Dyson then castled the other opener to leave Woodley at a not awful 48 for 2.
Their middle order though had no answer to the guile of Paul Graeme Marks who Rhumbaed his way to 5/25 and left Woodley at 90 for 8. Some late resistance meant that the final wicket never came and Woodley completed their 45 overs and garnered 135.
The Mottram chase was relatively comfortable all in all with Sam Smith’s breezy 55 well supported by contributions from Dan Crudden (19) and Sam Fazackerley (18).
Seven days later at home to Springhead, the 2s came unstuck and fell 49 runs short of Springheads’ 209.
The 2s did well to curtail Springhead after their opening stand of 94 left things looking precarious. High quality Phill Rowston and Charlie Stafford run outs kick started the recovery and quick wickets for J. Starr, PGM ensured the Middle Order didn’t get chance to accelerate wildly. Michael Scott joined the party too, taking 3/42 to end the Springhead innings with 3 overs to spare.
The MCC response never truly got going with 30 for 4 leaving P. Rowston (21), M. Scott (25) and M. Fazackerley (20) with an awful lot to do. Attentions eventually turned to whether Mottram could cross the threshold for a batting bonus point. They did, thanks to careful nurdling from Alice Dyson (25*) and Bailey Russell (12*).
The 2s third game of the season, was The Dyson Derby away at Glossop. Just the two Dysons involved this time round (Alice and Sam) with Andy involved merely as a lapping spectator.
MCC elected to bat first and compiled 167 from 43.4 overs. The bulk of those runs came from the bat of Oliver Bambroffe…which was being used by P. Rowston who made a vital 70. M. Scott also got in on the act, providing 36 from 51 as an important foil to Phill as they took us from 76 for 3 to pass the 150 mark.
Bailey rattled one into off-stump with his 1st ball of the game, charging up the hill to leave Glossop 2-1 and potentially reeling. We soon had though probably the defining moment of the innings as the #3 was dropped at Mid On whilst in single figures. He was eventually trapped LBW by PGM, but for a game-changing 66.
Alice went 1-0 up in the Dyson Battle by castling Sam but the reprieved #3 and Glossop’s captain (A. Wilson, 54*) ensured they got over the line with 5 wickets to spare.
For the 3rd XI, it’s 1 win and 1 defeat from their 2 games to date.
Matchday #1 saw DSL visit the Sapphire Accounting MCG. Sam Smith continued the club’s early good form with the coin and won the toss.#
Having elected to bat the 3s contrived to lose wickets at concerning intervals early on with 35 for 2, 57 for 3 and 98 for 5 not rewarding the Skippers faith entirely.
James Collinson (22) looked good early on and D. Crudden’s 35 added much needed heft to the middle order’s efforts. It was down to two young guns P. Hannon (35* on debut) and C. Green (26*) to lift our total from potentially below par to a much more satisfying 196.
DSL started assuredly but slowly, reaching 60 without loss looking untroubled but also noticeably behind the required rate. As drinks came and went, the need to accelerate was evident and the pressure told as S. Smith removed both openers and then proceeded to race through the middle order with glee. His 6/35 took DSL from 60 for 0 to 106 for 6. Jimmy C then had them 7 down before C. Green popped up with 2 for 2 to wrap things up nicely with DSL 72 short.
A week later it was the 3s left looking short by 70-odd in a chase v Greenfield. Early signs were promising with B. Russell having opener adjudged LBW to make it 8 for 1. From that point on Greenfield never exploded out of sight, but found a way to accumulate steadily. Despite 2fers for A. Dyson (2/20), S. Bennett (2/29) and C. Green (2/31), Greenfield made it to 173 from their 40.
In response the MCC order always looked like it needed one of the top order to go big and anchor the innings. Alas, 28 for 4 ruined that particular plan and the 96 All Out amassed was largely down to P. Hannon (25) and M. Hannon (27.)
For the 4th XI, it’s been a fortnight of debuts and encouraging bowling performances in their 1 friendly and 1 league outing.
A friendly outing v Stockport Georgians saw debuts for Dan M and Lucy GB, with Dan M the pick of the bowlers with 2 for 22 off his 7 overs.
The 4s made their league bow for the season over the bank holiday, suffering a 4 wicket defeat at the hands of Dinting.
Asked to bat by the hosts Mottram got off to a careful start, reaching 33 before Stan T was drawn into nicking behind.
C. Green-Buckley was watchful for his 23 off 60, anchoring well before being unlucky with a marginal run out call. P. Hannon top-scored with 25* off 84 as Mottram edged to 95 off their 35 overs.
With a more than likely below par score on the board, the name of the game was to frustrate Dinting, demonstrate good energy in the field and make it as difficult as possible.
S. Scott led from the front with an early wicket, and L. Fletcher bowled a fine spell for which he went cruelly unrewarded. At 60 for 2 it seemed a matter of time before Dinting went up a gear and got over the line breezily, but the young Mottram side fought well and scoring slowed right down.
J. Heaps (2/20) removed the #3 who top-scored with 30 and also held a steepler of a catch off his own bowling. Working well with S. Bennett (3/28) and Harry AT (0/2), there was a period of 3 wickets and just 8 runs in 5 overs that ensured an element of nerves entered the chase for Dinting.
Ultimately though, our total was around 40 short and Dinting got home with 4 wickets in the shed.
The Women’s Team and Over 40’s get their seasons underway tonight (6th
May) and we’ll have updates on their seasons to-date in the next newsletter.
