Three Wins on Penultimate Weekend

The penultimate weekend of the season saw three wins for the senior sides but sadly this didn't include the 1stXI. As a result they couldn't take the promotion race to the final weekend of the season but it has been another season of strong performances across all of the grades.

1stXI v Ashley

The 1stXI’s outside chance of promotion to the County League ended on the penultimate round of the season with a home loss to an enigmatic Ashley side. The midtable visitors arrived in a wretched run of form but comfortably completed a league double over the Jets who have otherwise only tasted league defeat to runaway champions Cheadle Hulme.

Toby Carson took charge in the absence of Jake Reynolds and saw his side get off to the perfect start, Andy Heath bowling Jahangir Mushtaq from the game’s first delivery. A Will Westerby runout continued the strong opening, but Ashley patiently maintained wickets in hand and delivered an explosive finish. This was primarily due to Abdul Wahab who signalled his intentions with a first-ball maximum. He then added four more lusty blows over the ropes in his 18-ball 38 as the 1stXI failed to capitalise on their good start.

179-9 looked an imposing target but, as with the first innings, the early stages of the chase were dominated by North East. An opening stand of 48 between Saul Gould (23) and Andrew Clarke (21) saw off the new ball before the veteran pair of Mo Ali and Jibran Khan put the brakes on the innings. They combined to bowl 16 accurate overs for just 28 runs and induce some skittish middle-order batting that saw a collapse to 77-8. Toby Carson (26) and Jamie Henderson (20) managed to salvage some pride with the game over as a contest but the Jets were never in the game, falling to 130 all out.

Cheadle Hulme v 2ndXI

The first of a double-header against basement side Cheadle Hulme to wrap up the 2021 season was comfortably navigated by the 2ndXI on the back pitch at Grove Park. Sam Scragg’s fourth half-century of the campaign helped the Jets post maximum batting points but he was dismissed for an even 50 when a big score looked in the offing. Disappointingly the side failed to bat their allocation, Choudhury claiming 5-51, but 171 all out was comfortably defendable.

Once again it was Jimmy Williams doing the business with the ball, delivering a third five-for of the season and cementing his place as the league’s leading wicket-taker. Sam Turnbull took two scalps with the new ball to help matters as only opening batsman Masror Ahmed made any impact. He hit 60 of the hosts eventual 100 all out and the sides will meet again to close out the season at London Road next weekend.

3rdXI v Urmston

A captain’s knock from 3rdXI skipper Andy Welsby saw his side finally overcome Urmston at the third time of asking on Jackson’s Edge. The bowlers set up the win by limiting the visitors to 138 all out, nearly half of which came from the bat of Shiel Patel with an aggressive 67. His dismissal saw a quick end to the innings though as Adam Burgess wiped out the tail with 4-18 after braces for Chris Taylor and Nathan Warner added to two runouts.

The skipper then dominated the chase with a breezy 46, striking seven boundaries and maintaining a strikerate in excess of 100. This ensured the Jets would knock the runs off with plenty of time to spare, doing so inside 30 overs. Welsby eventually fell shy of a maiden half-century but this was a fine win for the threes over a side who had beaten them twice in the season to date.

Bramhall v 4thXI

Whilst the Saturday sides took part in their penultimate fixtures, the 4thXI closed out the Sunday campaign on a scorching afternoon at Bramhall where they confirmed a third-place finish. Teenage spinners Ed Parkinson (2-15) and Owen Johnson (2-14) led the eight-man bowling attack whilst some sharp fielding delivered two direct-hit run outs to keep the hosts to 117-9.

The second innings then saw skipper Damien Mullany (24) surpass 500 runs in all competitions for the year before son Dan (26) and Scott Parkinson (34) did the heavy lifting to take the Jets to the cusp of victory. Both fell with a win in sight but it was still a comfortable four-wicket margin of victory with more than seven overs to spare to finish the season on a high.