A maiden century from Jordan Halliday helped White Coppice 1st XI see off Whittle and Clayton-le-Woods to progress into Round Two of the Crabtree Cup.
The man best known for his ties to Heinz Beans hit an unbeaten 141 that included nineteen fours and three sixes.
The bulk of his incredible innings was spent at the crease alongside the once again impressive Tom Sandells, with the two sharing a second wicket partnership of 233.
Sandells perished just seven short of a maiden century of his own when he whacked a full toss into the grateful hands of Whittle skipper Jake Evans.
Coppice finished their innings on an impressive 291/4, giving their opponents a Herculean task of chasing them down.
In truth, they never even came close.
John Townson clean bowled Alec Frater to pick up his maiden first team wicket with the score on 17.
The crucial wicket of the often dangerous Guy Barker was next with the wicketkeeper being ran out by Ryan Adderley before Matt Tinsley then castled Richard Mattingley to all but secure passage into Round 2.
Andrew Wareing and Jake Evans offered resistance by scoring 38 each but they never got near the run rate required.
Bobby Wood was then handed the ball by stand in skipper Adderley and he finished the game on a high by clean bowling Evans, Harrison Shires and Ian Brooke in quick succession to end with figures of 3 for 10.
Wood caused fits of laughter in the field by hilariously bowling a no ball when on a hat-trick.
Coppice will play Wrea Green in the next round on Sunday 31st May.
On Saturday, the 1s suffered their first defeat of the campaign by just fourteen runs against Chorley at The Green.
Skipper for the weekend Ryan Adderley won the toss and chose to bowl first in favourable conditions.
Openers Nathan Shepard and Matt Tinsley piled the pressure on Chorley’s openers and made scoring very difficult.
Eventually both Daniel Harman and Rob Gardner steadied themselves and took the score to 52 before the former was removed by Tinsley.
Adderley brought himself onto bowl and clean bowled big hitting Allan Brave to swing momentum Coppice’s way.
Making his home league debut, Tom Sandells then joined the party by taking the wicket of Gardner in a spell that saw him take 3 for 19 off nine tidy overs.
Nathan Shepard came back for a second spell and finished with the pick of the figures with 3 for 15.
Set a total of 146 for victory, things started horribly for Coppice with Matt McGuinn being dismissed by Archie Bleasdale for just four.
Adderley joined Sandells at the crease and steered Coppice into a very promising position before he was caught behind with the score on 50.
A flaky middle order collapse saw Coppice lose their next six wickets for just 44 runs with only Elliot France reaching double figures.
Nursing a knee injury, Rich Bush arrived at the crease in the unfamiliar spot of number ten and in a gritty partnership with Ben Knights brought Coppice back into it.
With just twenty needed for victory, Bleasdale struck again for the visitors to dismiss Knights who batted for his life to support Rich at the other end.
In heartbreaking fashion, Bush was the last man out when he was rather harshly given out LBW with the score on 131.
A crucial five point haul was still picked up despite defeat meaning Coppice stay top of Division Five for the time being.
Martin Cuerden’s Second XI also came out on the wrong side of the scoreline as they were well beaten by a Mick Keane inspired Blackpool.
Home skipper Kieran Newcombe won the toss and elected to bat at Mossom Lane and despite his side finding themselves 31-3 in the early stages, it proved to be a match winning decision.
Playing alongside his son Alfie, Blackpool number three Keane scored exactly 100 to take the game away from Coppice in an innings that saw him hit eleven fours and five sixes.
The visitors largely bowled tightly despite pressure from the relentless Keane with Adam Mannan the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 35 from his nine overs.
A special mention too for Syed Bukhari who picked up a wicket of his own and took the catch for the wicket of Blackpool’s skipper off Martin Cuerden’s bowling.
Set a total of 158 to win, Coppice’s chase never really took off.
Only three batters made double figures with Mannan again the pick with 15 as the 2s were all out for just 75.
The 3rd XI made the trip to Bolton by Bowland for a friendly on Sunday.
Tom Dulson was back on captain duties as he returned to the side following a week off last week.
His first act upon his return was to lose the toss and be asked to field.
The more experienced opposition made full use of a small leg side boundary to post an impressive score of 243.
Anoop Appu was the pick of Coppice’s bowlers as he picked up 2 for 16.
It was a good day out for the right arm seamer as he then picked up his best career score with the bat as he hit an impressive 43 which included five fours and one maximum.
Matt Phillipson, who kindly pulled double duty this weekend to help the Sunday side out, was the next top score with a solid 33.
Coppice’s innings came to a close when the tenth wicket fell with the score on 109.
Dulson’s team return to action when they host Darwen next Sunday at The Green.
Tags: Cricketers, Village, White Coppice