1st XI vs South Wingfield (Home, Regional Final Village Cup, Sunday 6th June) by James Wright
The cricket has been coming thick and fast this year, and there was no let up on Sunday as the 1st team played host to South Wingfield CC in the Regional Final of the Village Trophy… the lads had never got this far before on the road to Lords, and they were expecting a hard match against new opponents.
The visitors received an early shock when they and their army of supporters arrived in Glossop and duly turned up at North Road, only to be dispatched to the other end of town by groundsman Ken Wilde.
Home skipper Adderley could barely conceal his delight as he finally found success with the coin toss, and he wasted no time in opting to bat first on the hard, dry wicket.
Josh Acomb and Jehrome Sagar were first up for OG, and Acomb immediately laid waste to the visiting bowling attack, in a demonstration of destruction not witnessed in the village since Ivan Twist’s Dollars heyday thirty years earlier. Indeed, the South Wingfield bowlers were wishing that they had stayed at North Road…
Sagar joined in the fun, clearly enjoying the pace on the ball, and the score had raced beyond 60 when he was first to fall, edging behind for 17. Unfortunately for the home side, Acomb quickly followed, with his devastating onslaught ended on 45 as he was caught in the deep. Both openers were now back in the pavilion with the score on 66 for 2, as the visiting bowlers licked their wounds.
The hapless Cannon entered the fray and was soon taking his leave, in truth more than a little unlucky to play on to his stumps. The OG middle order again had work to do, with Whitehouse and McGrail now in rebuilding mode following the three quick dismissals. McGrail, a centurion in the last round, was unable to find his form this time, and was rapidly sent marching for 2.
Adderley joined Whitehouse and the pair offered stiff resistance to good bowling, moving the score beyond 100 before Adderley was out, caught for 18. OG were struggling now, and disaster struck soon afterwards, as Whitehouse also took his leave having added 19.
With the score on only 117 for 6, this was now going to be hard work for the remaining batters. The last four wickets could add only 16 runs, and the final total of 133 all out left the home bowlers with a mountain to climb.
Whitehouse and Adderley deserved credit for their partnership, but the plaudits went to Acomb for a memorable innings.
Following the brief interval, the South Wingfield openers strode out to the middle and immediately plundered the home bowling attack. The OG bowlers tried hard in tough conditions, but the opposition were simply too good and the first innings total proved way too low to defend.
Allsopp was the only man to find success on the day, dismissing Jones lbw for 19. The impressive Fenn motored on to 86, and the visitors reached their target having lost only one wicket and with 15 overs of their innings remaining.
On reflection, maybe they would have been more at home at North Road after all…
All in all, a testing day for Old Glossop, and a sense that they should have made better of Acomb’s explosive start. However, all agreed that they had been well beaten by much better opponents.
Sadly, Lords will have to wait for another year…