Old Glossop 1st XI rolled up at Hollingworth at the weekend looking to bounce back from their defeat last week to lowly High Lane.
The sun was shining and the sun cream was on, slightly too much on some faces, but you can’t be too careful can you ?!
Having won the toss and inserted their hosts Old Glossop were put on the back foot by the Hollingworth openers, who shared in an opening stand of 50. With a lightning quick outfield any variance in line or length resulted in a boundary.
There then followed two quick wickets, one each for the OG openers King and Cooper, who were both then removed from the attack on a sweltering afternoon, to be replaced by Allsopp and Hall, both jostling for position at the top of the league averages.
Both miserly with runs conceded, they restricted the Hollingworth batsmen to few runs and wickets fell at regular intervals, to leave OG in pole position.
Declan Hall picked up 5 wickets for just 12 runs, one of which was a well judged catch taken by veteran Dave Donnelly, (40 – years not runs!), and with Lenny Allsopp taking 2 for 9, Hollingworth were in dire straits at 90 for 9 off 30 overs.
Desperate for the last wicket, the OG skipper removed Hall from the attack to be replaced by Rob Adderley, who duly clean bowled the last batsman to leave Hollingworth all out for 93.
The OG reply started well with Donnelly punishing any over-pitched deliveries, but White then nicked one behind to leave OG 15 for 1.
White was possibly concussed at the time, having taken a heavy blow earlier in the field after mis-judging a chance at mid wicket. His mis-calculation of a seemingly straightforward chance resulted in a desperate dive, a heavy fall, and a short period of recovery on the deck. The absence of any sympathy from his team mates then resulted in him dragging himself to his feet and dusting himself down, slightly red faced (or was that the sun?).
Donnelly and Andy James carried the fight to Hollingworth and were looking comfortable until Donnelly chopped one onto his own stumps. Andy King joined James at the crease but was unfortunate, when choosing to leave one he didn’t move his bat far enough out of the way and played on.
This brought Martin McGrail (25 no) to join Andy James (30 no), and they both cut loose on any poor deliveries, taking Old Glossop to victory off just 13 overs.