2's bounce back

After last weeks surprise defeat Westhoughton entered the double header against 2 of the chasing pack knowing 2 wins would put them within touching distance of retaining the 2XI championship.

Greenmount having convincingly beaten Westhoughton earlier in the season won the toss elected to bat on a track which was damp in patches from the overnight thunderstorm.
The returning opening attack of Woody and Nathan Blair extracted bounce and movement early on but chances were put down until Dan Higham managed to hold onto a rebound at square leg off Nathan's bowling.Having an early good lbw shout turned down Martin Woods then drew main threat Nigel Franklin into leaving an inswinging ball and was trapped lbw.Woody then bowled the no3 whilst Nathan toiled without further success.Greeners capt Dave Senior then gave a straightforward chance to Matt ‘Mahou’ Trow which wasn’t taken and started to accumulate boundaries as Woody tired.
Dan Higham replaced Nathan and picked up 3 wickets whilst Matt Fanning struggled to find his rhythm but was unlucky as JP failed to hold onto a nick standing up to the wicket.A sharp piece of fielding from Woody at cover brought a breakthrough shortly after drinks as the batters tried to pinch singles.
Martin Hodgkiss and Gary Tonge took over the bowling responsibilities taking the pace off the ball trying to stifle the run rate with Hodgy and Tongy taking 1 wicket a piece.Woody came back at the death to clean up the last 2 batters finishing with 4 wickets off 14 overs.Pick of the bowlers was Dan Higham with 3wickets off 6 overs whilst Nathan had the most economical figures.Greenmount finished 159 all out after their 50 overs which was probably 60 more than they should have accumulated given the 6 dropped catches.

Westhoughton reply was steady with Hodgy promoted up the order partnering in form Matt Trow.They took the score to 33 before Hodgy was bowled for 10.Jimmy Burrows in at 3 didn’t trouble the scorers so Greenmounts tails were now up.Kai Hodgkiss,an overnight draft pick,was promoted to no4 after his 67 for the u18s and gave good support to Matt Trow.This partnership took the score to 100 before Kai was unluckily bowled for a good 18,the ball rolling back onto the stumps.Matt Trow reached his 50 but was out caught slip shortly after for 52,another good knock from this seasons leading run scorer.JP took on the lead role with able support from Nathan steadily and they took the score to 140 before the game ignited.JP,protecting his batting average,protested against being given out lbw having clearly hit the ball.The umpires consulted and changed the decision to not out which incensed the opposition despite the bowler knowing the original decision was clearly wrong.JP,with cheeky grin,hit the winning runs to pick up another 6 points for Westhoughton.