A young Old Glossop 3rd XI were looking to extend their unbeaten start to the season on Sunday as they welcomed a strong Dinting side for an eagerly anticipated local Derby that didn't disappoint.
OG won the toss, decided to bat and sent out usual opening pair Tom and Seth, looking to build on their fine early season form. Alas, it wasn't to be Seth's day as he was caught at 1st slip early on, departing for 4 runs.
Tom was then joined at the crease by Zaeem and the youngsters really dug in and batted superbly again, both playing many fine strokes to underline their class. Tom retired not out on 50 and Zaeem fell just one short of his half century, departing on 49.
Chris James also batted well for a valuable 17 but there were only bits and bobs from the rest with Tom able to go back in at the death to add another 12 runs, finishing on 62 not out, a great knock.
The Sunday league is a great vehicle for not only giving the clubs youngsters more experience of senior cricket but also to give people who have very limited cricket experience a chance to enjoy the game. That being the case, there will be times when that inexperience comes to the fore and unfortunately there were a couple of examples of that from skipper Paul.
Firstly he ran his own son (Ben) out first ball by not backing up properly and taking a single that should have been taken. The second one was of a more comical nature. Whilst running between the wickets, Paul appeared to be running in quite a strange style, holding his groin for some reason. This is because just before going out to bat, he went to put his box in only to discover he had put his shorts on back to front!!!! There wasn't enough time to re dress himself so had to make do with his box constantly sliding down his thigh!! Lesson learnt!!
OG finished on 181 for 9 which was a decent total but probably 20 to 30 too short in the end.
After refreshments, Dinting sent their big hitters out to open and it was hard work for the OG bowlers but they were admirable in the way they dug in and kept plugging away, making their more experienced opponents really work for their runs. Lawty batted well for Dinting on his old stomping ground and retired on 51 not out. The highlight of the day though was the performance of young Awais Khan on his senior debut for OG at 13 years old. He bowled superbly well, a mixture of leg and off spin, taking 3 wickets and was really impressive, well done young man.
Dinting won with 3 overs to spare, finishing on 184 for 4, Tom taking the other wicket. Although it was disappointing to lose, the effort from OG could not be faulted which bodes well for the rest of the season.
