White Coppice 1st XI made it three wins from three with a comfortable victory over Eccleston at Doctors Lane to move eight points clear at the top of Division 5.

Skipper Jake Smalley won the toss and opted to bowl first on a rather greasy looking track in overcast conditions in the hope that Coppice could skittle their opponents quickly when batting conditions would be at their most difficult.

It took just nine balls of Eccleston’s innings for Smalley’s side to make a breakthrough when Luke Charnley was given out caught behind off Nathan Shepard.

The hosts then found themselves two down with less than three overs gone after some more neat work behind the stumps from the league’s best keeper Antony Dark, when his quick thinking saw home skipper Ian Schofield stumped off Matt Tinsley.

Coppice’s opening bowlers weren’t done there and began to run riot.

Tinsley clean bowled Gavin Cunliffe before the lethal Dark/Shepard partnership struck two more times to leave Eccleston reeling at 25 for 5.

The experienced Iain Bradley and former Preston North End midfielder Paul McKenna steadied the ship and were able to steer the hosts to drinks with the score at 40.

However, a post orange juice bowling change brought about a breakthrough for Coppice and it was perhaps the best wicket of the day, with Anis Haider cutting McKenna in half and leaving his stumps scattered to start another collapse.

The last four wickets fell for just fourteen runs with Haider taking another thanks to a sharp catch from Ryan Adderley and then debutant Tom Sandells picked up a miserly 3/4 to clear up the tail.

With just 55 required for victory, Bobby Wood and Sandells walked to the wicket keen to get some valuable crease time and bring home a comprehensive victory.

Wood crashed two fours off Rhys Simms’ second over to settle any nerves before departing for 11 thanks to a sharp caught and bowled by Charlie McKenna.

Dan Preston joined Sandells at the crease in his first appearance of the season and helped sensibly navigate a spirited bowling effort from the home side.

In the nineteenth over, the Leicestershire native thumped Jeewanka Herath back over his head for four to seal a nine wicket win with Sandells capping off a smart debut with a stylish 26 not out.

Smalley’s side are pulling double duty next weekend with Chorley visiting The Green in league action on Saturday before a short trip to Whittle-le-Woods on Sunday for Round One of the Crabtree Cup.

With the 2nd XI having a week’s break, attention then turned to the 3rd team who welcomed Cherry Tree to The Green on Sunday afternoon.

The game proved to be an absolute classic that will certainly go down as one of the more exciting and thrilling Sunday games in recent memory.

With usual skipper Tom Dulson absent, Joe Seager took on captaincy duties and his side were put into bat by their visitors.

Facing a wet outfield and a grey sky overhead, Coppice were given a tricky prospect in having to bat first.

It proved to be so as within the first three overs of the innings both opening batsmen James Speakman and Janayed Ilyas were sent back to the pavilion thanks to some smart bowling from Will Joyce, leaving the hosts 5-2.

Jeff Smith was then the next man to go for just one after being trapped LBW to Ethan Finney which left Coppice in real trouble with the score yet to reach double figures.

Thankfully, Syed Bukhari and Mike Houghton brought some calm to proceedings and put on a welcomed thirty partnership to make the score much more competitive.

Big hitting Bukhari perished thanks to a catch from William Hooley before joint top scoring Houghton was also caught to leave Coppice at 47-5.

John Townson and captain Seager barely troubled the scorers to leave the score at 57-7 and Coppice in desperate need of a serious tail wagging to post a defendable score.

Comets the hour, cometh the men.

James Hurst and Ben Knights seized their opportunity and put on excellent displays to guide the team past 100 and put on impressive eighth wicket stand of 59.

Hurst’s patient 23 from 56 balls is his best knock for Coppice since joining towards the end of last season.

With both men dismissed with the score on 116, Matt Phillipson and David Elstins made their way to the wicket but were unable to add more than four to the score with both departing quickly to see Coppice finishing their innings on 120.

Knights barely had to time to strip off his pads before he was asked to open the bowling by Seager in what proved to be a clever move by the stand in skip.

Both Knights and Syed Bukhari bowled tidy opening spells and picked up a wicket apiece before the ball was handed to James Speakman.

After taking an over to get his line right, the left armer then took two quick wickets to dismiss Alex Hooley and Howard Mercer to leave the hosts 61/4.

From the other end, John Townson dismissed Sam Burns for a duck to bring the game well and truly into the balance.

Cherry Tree then sent in Dilly Hussain to partner Rachel Hadfield in a move that helped guide the Blackburn based side to within just twenty runs of victory.

Coppice weren’t willing to give up hope though and Mike Houghton dragged the 3s back into the game by dismissing both Hussain and Hadfield in quick succession to set up a grandstand finish.

With Coppice needing just three wickets and Cherry Tree requiring just fifteen to win, Seager threw the ball back to opening bowler Knights in the hope he could help bring home a huge victory.

The decision looked to be a masterstroke when he clean bowled Tom Perricone with the final ball of his returning over to leave Coppice just two bits of cricket away from glory.

Mike Houghton bowled four maidens on the trot to help build pressure and leave Cherry Tree needing eight from the final over of the match for victory.

William Hooley handled the pressure like a man far beyond his tender years to break Coppice hearts and seal the victory for his team with a well ran two from the game’s very final ball.

On this occasion, Coppice fell agonisingly the wrong side of a pulsating game that was played in excellent spirits. A huge thank you to Cherry Tree for the game and we look forward to the return game in just three weeks time.

Tags: California Splashes, Cricket, Cricketers, Match Report, Village