White Coppice 2nd XI won an absolute thriller on Saturday while Jordan Halliday was the hero of the 1st XI’s Crabtree Cup win on Sunday.

On Saturday, the 2nd XI hosted BAC /EE Preston in an early contender for game of the season.

Martin Cuerden lost the loss for the 5th time in a row this season (record books are being consulted) and was unsurprisingly asked to bowl first on a warm day.

It looked to a blessing in disguise when in the 3rd over Ian Aldred took a triple wicket maiden to leave the visitors reeling at 2-3 aiding by a sharp catch at short cover by Mike Houghton.

Coppice then struggled to adjust to two left handers, and a mini recovery took BAC to 39-3 before Houghton took two wickets in an over, with Aldred repaying the favour by taking a catch at short cover.

George Sheldon batted well for his 30 before he fell to leave BAC wobbling at 72-8.

This brought in Akhil Prabhakaran at No 9, who launched a brilliant counter-attack striking 49 off just 23 balls with a couple of huge sixes.

He was unlucky to be left not out just shy of his landmark as Aldred claimed his 4th wicket to leave Coppice chasing 143 for the win. Mike Houghton’s 4-30 was his best return for Coppice.

A special mention to Elliot France who took a great running catch for one of Houghton’s wickets.

In reply, Coppice got off to a quick start with Jeff Smith hitting a brace of boundaries off the first over, before he was the latest batsman to fall into the short cover catching trap.

There was a comical moment when umpire Ryan Adderley signalled one short for the batters and one wag thought he was describing himself!

Captain Cuerden took up the scoring mantel with a quickfire 18 before coming unstuck by a nip backer, but by then he’d taken the score to 34 in just the 8th over.

Russ Millhouse fell in almost identical fashion as Coppice slipped to 63-6, with the target still 80 off and looking a distance away.

However, this brought together Aldred and Tom Bramhall, who saw off the opener and began batting very sensibly with the bad bowl being punished but not taking big risks.

The two built a 63-run partnership, with every run being cheered on the sidelines.

The two took the score to 126-6 and at that point Coppice were favourites, however Bramhall fell for a well made 28 and the game was back in the balance.

Visakh PV fell quickly, and the scoring rate started to slow however Anto Kuriokose produced a huge six to reduce the gap further and ease nerves of those watching.

The game took another twist when with just 3 runs needed to win Aldred was out for a patient innings of 23 off 70 balls.

Wicketkeeper James Field strode to the middle at 11 for just his second bat of the season, however the first ball he faced went for 4 byes to secure a dramatic win to jubilant scenes – including the sight of captain Cuerden running across the pitch.

The win takes Coppice 2nds to 5th in the league, with a game in hand on all the sides above them.

On Sunday, Jordan Halliday cemented his reputation as the king of the pink ball when his unbeaten innings of 59 helped White Coppice 1st XI through to the next round of the Crabtree Cup.

His match-winning knock at Wrea Green 2nds guided his side to a convincing seven-wicket win and followed his unbeaten 141 in the previous round at Whittle-le-Woods.

Earlier, captain Jake Smalley won the toss and had no hesitation in asking the hosts to bat first at the idyllic ground, which had a short boundary on one side.

Matt Tinsley made an early breakthrough when David Cockram was brilliantly caught by wicketkeeper Ant Dark for a duck.

In-form Ed Nickson and 6ft 9in Jack Ward took the score to 47-1 before a freak run-out changed the course of the innings.

Nickson, who’d reached 32 off 41 balls, smacked a delivery from Tinsley to Chris Maguire at mid-off.

A sprawling Maguire deflected the ball off his forearm to Ryan Adderley at mid-off, who spotted both batters at the same end and ran out Nickson at the wicketkeeper’s end.

Tinley immediately bowled Luke Needham for a three-ball duck on his way to 2-19 off eight overs.

Perhaps it was guilt over his role in the run-out but Ward put his foot on the gas and hit a couple of maximums on his way to a top score of 42 off 57 balls.

Wrea Green 2nd XI looked well placed at 91-3 off 20 overs but it was a different story after the drinks break.

Ward played back to Ryan Adderley’s quicker ball and had his off stump knocked out the ground.

Adderley finished with 3-21 while Nathan Shepard ended with 3-23.

Ibby Akram took a wicket with his second ball, courtesy of Tinsley’s second smart catch of the match, as Wrea Green were all out for 124.

Coppice’s reply began with a couple of boundaries from Maguire but he was caught off the back of bat at fine leg.

Tom Sandells and Halliday, who shared a 200-run partnership in the previous round, put on 61 for the second wicket with Halliday dominating the scoring.

Sandells was caught behind for 13 but Smalley moved himself up the order and hit a quickfire 20 before slapping one to cover.

Halliday hit six fours and four sixes on his way to a run-a-ball 59 and was joined by Anis Haider as he finished the game with successive maximums.

Coppice play favourites Preston Strikers on June 21st in the next round.

White Coppice 3rds lost a high-scoring match against Salesbury CC 3rd XI.

Opener Braydan Chadwick-Crook hit a patient 52 not out to help Salesbury to an imposing 185-5. With Atiq Ur Rehman & James Hurst picking up two wickets each.

In reply, the sixth over will be something Coppice want to forget, as three wickets fell in quick succession. Christ Hoyle hit 40 off 37 balls & Atiq Ur Rehman kept Coppice in the game with a quickfire 29, including a huge six.

A slow-and-steady final wicket partnership of 21 between Ben Knight & Joe Seager frustrated the hosts but ultimately, the target was too much.