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Maiden 10-pointer for Boro

Mark Wilbraham
30/ 7/2008

LITTLEBOROUGH completed their first 10-point weekend of the season with a four-wicket win at Middleton on Sunday.

Boro looked to be cruising towards the modest target of 125 they needed for victory, but a flurry of wickets and some nervous batting gave the small posse of visiting supporters plenty to worry about on a baking hot day at Towncroft.

Middleton are next to bottom of the league and it was clear to see why they have struggled this term.

They lost their first wicket as early as the second over when Martin Roberts edged Curtis Maguire to Bill Williams behind the stumps.

Runs were hard to come by as the Littleborough bowlers kept their discipline, resulting in Middleton losing two more wickets as they tried to open up.

Steve Davey gave Williams his second catch, this time off Hussain’s bowling, and in the 12th over deputy professional Nishit Shetty was eventually held by Phil Deakin at point after the Boro captain had engaged in a spot of juggling.

The run rate continued to regress as Littleborough bowled and fielded extremely well.

Brendan Miskella conceded just one run off his first five overs and when Jimmy Ryan eventually lost patience with the lack of progress, he only succeeded in skying one for Maguire to take a fine catch at mid-off.

In the same over Tom Read was caught low down by Nick Grindrod at cover point and with more than half their overs used, Middleton had slumped to 68 for five.

Veteran John Punchard and Stuart Fitton arrested the quick fall of wickets, before Punchard became the sixth man out when he was bowled by Deakin.

Fitton and Sam Warren managed to take the total past 100, only for the former to fall in the 40th over when he was caught by Rudi Keiser at wide mid-off off Andy Rodgerson.

Two balls later Richard Fitton was bowled after missing a straight delivery from Rodgerson and with nine overs still remaining the Moonrakers were in desperate trouble at 101 for eight.

Andy Deakin was the ninth man out when Williams took his third catch of the innings, meaning Boro had six overs in which to take the 10th wicket to give them the chance of a five-point win.

However, Warren and Dale Highton seemed more intent on preserving their wickets rather than scoring runs, although a couple of streaky fours behind the wicket moved the total to 124.

Eventually, Boro did claim the last wicket when Highton tried to drive Deakin down the ground, only to give the Littleborough captain a simple return catch.

The target of 125 seemed fairly innocuous, but Boro had failed to score that many 24 hours earlier, so nothing was guaranteed.

They made an excellent start, though, with Rudi Keiser again in fine form as he drove well on the offside to race to 50 out of the first 62 runs.

He had reached 57 by the 18th over and looked set to carry his bat, only for a rare loose shot to be easily pouched by Martin Roberts at mid-on.

Boro then experienced a slight wobble as Maguire and Kamran Hussain departed in the next two overs, meaning the score had gone from 68 for no wicket to 69 for three in the space of three overs.

Gary Hulme and Nick Grindrod got Littleborough back on track with a patient, yet valuable partnership of 39.

This ended when Grindrod was bowled by Highton after an uncharacteristically wayward shot and off the very next ball, Jamie Roche played on after an ill-judged sweep shot.

Boro still needed 17 runs to win with the tail end looming, but Hulme and Andy Rodgerson played sensibly to take the visitors to within four runs of victory.

Hulme was then caught in the covers by Punchard to give Highton his fifth wicket, but four byes in the next over allowed Littleborough to complete a win they made very heavy weather of.

Batting first as they entertained Monton and Weaste on Saturday, Littleborough scored just 121 but managed to defend that total.

Rudi Keiser’s knock of 40 made him by far the pick of the batsmen and there were useful contributions from Phil Deakin (17) and Andy Rodgerson (25).

Nevertheless, seven Littleborough batsmen failed to get into double figures and Trent Scott (four for 15) and Craig Duxbury (three for 10) appeared to have put Monton and Weaste in the driving seat.

However, the pendulum quickly swung back towards the hosts with the first five batsmen out for a combined 30 runs. David Hamilton’s 21 proved too little, too late and Monton and Weaste were dismissed for 114.

LITTLEBOROUGH 2nd will meet Monton and Weaste 2nd in the final of the Burton Cup on Sunday 10 August. The teams tossed for venue and the match will be played at Monton.