White Coppice had one of the best days in their recent history with both the 1st and 2nd teams securing crucial wins as they push for promotion.
The victories see both teams in second place in Division Five and Division Eight respectively of the Palace Shield League with a month of the campaign to go.
The 1st XI headed to Limbrick to play local rivals Chorley 3rds and were looking to avenge one of only two league defeats they’ve suffered this season.
Coppice’s preparations were disrupted when Tom Sandells’ wife inadvertently took his car keys – leaving the allrounder stranded in Preston.
Captain Jake Smalley and Matt Tinsley immediately initiated ‘Operation Rescue Tommy’ and the trio arrived at Limbrick just before the start. After the game, Sandells discovered the existence of a spare key!!
Vice captain Ryan Adderley lost the toss and Chorley’s captain Chris Harty had no hesitation in batting first with the sun shining.
Chorley’s openers Lee Brooks and Rob Gardner made a cautious start in the face of a miserly 15-over spell from Matt Tinsley.
Tinsley didn’t concede a single boundary, conceding 1-14 from a stunning display – and taking his tally of wickets to 34 for the season.
Tinsley’s display restricted Chorley to just 41 off 21 overs before some late fireworks by Jamie Alderson-Perkins added much-needed momentum in the second half with an unbeaten 59.
Veteran spinner Ryan Adderley showed his experience by dismissing Chorley youngsters Jonathan Waugh and Jasper Chan for 26 and 25 respectively, courtesy of two smart stumpings by Ant Dark.
Dark has now taken 25 victims this season (made up of 18 catches and seven stumpings) – beating his tally of 22 in 2025.
White Coppice looked like they weren’t going to get any bonus bowling points until Chris Maguire took a diving one-handed catch at mid-off to dismiss Allan Brave for 35 to secure Chorley’s fifth wicket and Coppice’s only bowling point.
That was as good it got for Maguire as the opener was promptly dismissed for a duck by Oliver Waugh, with a ball that nipped back to trim the bails.
Sandells was bowled soon after for two – which meant all four openers in the match were bowled.
Ryan Adderley (14) and Richard Bush (18) started a partial recovery, which was followed by useful contributions from Jordan Halliday (14) and Nathan Shepard (25), who was making his final appearance of the season before starting a new job in London.
At 96-6, Chorley were the firm favourites but Anis Haider and Ant Dark had other ideas.
Haider has worked really hard on his batting and hit an undefeated 47 off 58 balls, with six fours and a six over wide long-on.
The real fireworks came from Dark, who has now hit 336 runs for the season – 79 per cent of which have come in boundaries.
Haider and Dark shared an unbroken partnership of 92 with Dark’s second six sparking scenes of unbridled celebration as he jumped into Smalley’s arm – and quickly end up on the ground.
Before the game Dark claimed to have written the result of the game in a sealed envelope – only to reveal afterwards it was the old Sean Lock joke!
Coppice’s 12th win of the season means they’re 10 points behind runaway leaders Preston Strikers and 31 points ahead of third-placed Leyland 4th XI, who have a game in hand.
The game was watched by two of Coppice’s injured players Ussy Akram and Bobby Wood, who have been ruled out for the rest of the season.
White Coppice 2nd XI gained a crucial victory over second-placed Blackpool, as the race for promotion in Division Eight gets tighter by the week.
After last week’s defeat to another promotion rival in Burscough, this was a must-win for Coppice and they got the ideal start with Martin Cuerden winning the toss (again) and electing to bat on a warm day.
Coppice lost Dave Smith early, however Jeff Smith and Russ Millhouse took advantage of a fast outfield as the score raced to 53-1 after just 10 overs, with Smith bulking the bulk of the scoring.
Smith hit a quick-fire 37, including a six that either hit the middle of his bat or the top edge, depending on who you believe. It means Smith has now hit three sixes this season, having waited 15 years for the first!
The introduction of Blackpool’s more experienced bowlers changed things, Mick Keane struck first ball to dismiss Millhouse and alongside Gurkaran Samra the two proved difficult to get away.
They also took regular wickets including Smith for 37.
By the time they had both bowled out, Coppice had slipped to 104-7, with the hope of getting between 120 and 130 to give them something to bowl at.
However, Ibby Akram had other ideas, supported initially by Matt Phillipson, the two took the score to 133, before Phillipson was dismissed for 10.
Visakh P Visakh was moved up the order to No 10 for the last few overs, and he and Akram put their foot down, combining for a crucial 9th wicket partnership of 50 off just 28 deliveries, which knocked the stuffing out of the visitors.
Akram completed an excellent 50, his second league 50 for the club, before both he and Visakh were run out in the last over trying to get every run they could, but it left Coppice with 185 to defend.
Faced with a challenging total, Blackpool needed to get off to a good start, however Visakh bowled superbly up the hill bowling some unplayable stuff, he was perhaps unlucky to only get two wickets (2-17) but that included the big wicket of Keane, who hit a century the last time the two sides met.
At the other end Ian Aldred also took two wickets in an economical spell of 2-12 off seven overs.
Aldred went for just one boundary in his spell – an edged four which resulted in a lost ball. However, the change in ball worked with Aldred dismissing Samra the very next ball!
Captain Cuerden paid the price for trying to find the lost ball, with his arm being torn up by the surrounding bramble bushes.
Blackpool’s captain Kieran Newcombe played a lone hand for a battling 47, but Blackpool collapsed around him, losing their last six wickets for just 12 runs.
Mike Houghton was in the wickets again with 4-9, his spell being a combination of several deliveries being the outside edge and a few half trackers, which were the ones that ended up in the fielder’s hands!
He currently sits at 22 league wickets at a remarkable average of 6.45 including a quartet of four-wicket hauls.
Coppice’s fielding was excellent, Dave Smith taking three catches and Elliot France, making a welcome return after a month’s holiday, showing no signs of rust with another catch and a direct hit run out.
Coppice ran out comfortable winners by 106 runs, which moves them above Blackpool into the 2nd promotion place ahead of their final rest week next weekend.