Match Ball Sponsors – ex Shireshead favourite Irfan Quayum and Barberz Cutz of Forton. We appreciate the support.

Westgate First and Second XIs both came away with the spoils in their respective fixtures at Clifton Park and Powderhouse Lane.

Despite posting 188 (all out) in the 44th over Shireshead ‘s premier team lost by 8 wickets thanks mainly to a century from Craig Buchanan (109 not out) which saw the visitors romp to a comfortable victory with six overs to spare. 44 not out from captain Andrew Hill and 23 from Dylan Conroy were the capable support for Buchanan.

Earlier Shireshead struggled to recover from three ‘ducks’ in the top order; Dylan Conroy proving difficult to handle even on Bill Jacques’ impressive surface. Tom Jacques made 41 and brother Rob 32. Phil Oliver made a valuable 29 late on and Dave Jack 20. Conroy ended iup with 5 wickets for 42 in his 11.3 overs.

Meanwhile in Lancaster, a slightly makeshift Shireshead 2nd team were making a good fist of it and were it not for Dave Hannigan who made a fluent 44 Westgate’s 161 would have been much lower. Only Steve Creed and Rory Briggs made significant contributions with 22 and 20 respectively. The pick of the bowlers were the Weirs  with Aiden claiming another four wicket haul (4 – 42) and dad Andy taking 4 for 32. Both bowled with great accuracy and control. Shireshead’s run chase look hamstrung before they had even lifted a bat as firstly Graeme Swindlehurst then Mike Park pulled up with injuries to said muscle.

Liam Burns (20) and Stan Collinson (23 not out) made steady progress for the first wicket but after Burns fell to a ‘jaffa’ from Vaughan the middle order proved a house of cards with three zero scores until Aiden Weir joined Collinson to make 21. However, as he departed followed swiftly by Andy, Mike Park entered accompanied by a runner. He and the determined Collinson set about surviving the remaining 15 overs and a full throttled attack from Westgate to attempt to deny the home side 15 points and earn 2 for themselves. And that they did, with Collinson showing huge mental strength and immaculate technique to carry his bat and Park defying injury to end on 24 not out.