Under a heavy sky on another excellent wicket the youthful Shireshead iii entertained an only slightly more experienced Sedgwick 3rds. Shires batted first and flirted with humiliation at 17 for 5 fashioned by some wonderful swing and seam bowling from the experienced Wright ( 6 for 6). Sloan (41) again provided runs and shared lengthy partnerships with young Stan Collinson and Ben Brown (30no). Thomas Atkinson and A Weir then batted sensibly to make sure Shireshead used up all 40 overs and finished on 132. Shireshead were forced to recruit a substitute fielder in the shape of Joe Oliver (thank you) and Ben Richards volunteered to take the wicket keeper’s gloves.
Sedgwick lost wickets at regular intervals but managed to keep up with the run rate with mature batting from Oliver Sunday (20) and the help of Mr extras. Thomas Atkinson (1 for 16) was most economical and threatened to strangle the Sedgwick innings. With Sedgwick at 80 for 8 the only likely way for Shireshead to be thwarted was the gathering thunderstorm but Dan Noar (25 no) punched dents into Shireshead hopes and added 42 for the final two wickets. Aiden Weir (3 for 31) returned to the action and cleared up the tail to complete a hard fought victory for Shireshead 3rds by 10 runs.