A much-changed White Coppice 1st XI lost by 50 runs against Bretherton in a high-scoring game.
Ussy Akram, Jordan Halliday and Richard Bush were missing from last Saturday’s line-up with Ben Knights, Sam Davies and Milke Houghton replacing them.
It was Davies’ first appearance of the season for Coppice after a successful spell in 2024.
Captain Jake Smalley was desperate to make first use of an excellent batting wicket and fast outfield but he lost the toss and his team toiled in the sun after being asked to bowl.
Opening bowler Matt Tinsley made the early breakthrough when he had Callum Mackenzie caught at point by Smalley for 9.
At the other end Justin Clark, who recently returned to playing cricket after a 20-year gap, showed a good defensive technique, scoring 35 off 87 balls, helping Bretherton to 100-1 before being run-out by a direct throw from Smalley.
Dave Bertram hit 46 off 79 balls before pulling Tinsley to Knights at deep midwicket as he approached a half century.
The real impetus to the Bretherton innings came from big-hitting David Whillis (36 off 22 balls) and Jamie Ashton (49 not out off 31 balls) to help their side to 231-6.
Coppice didn’t help themselves with some unusual misfields but they suffered a setback when wicketkeeper Ant Dark had to be helped off the pitch after pulling a thigh muscle.
Tinsley finished with 3-65 while chief burglar Jake Smalley took his tally of league victims to 27 with a spell of 2-44.
Bretherton’s haul of 32 fours and three sixes meant they scored 146 of their 231 runs in boundaries.
Coppice’s reply got off to a good start with openers Bobby Wood and Chris Maguire sharing a quickfire partnership of 36.
Wood looked set for a good score but was unlucky to be bowled off his pads for 15.
At the other end, Maguire looked in good touch from the moment he hit his first ball over square leg for the first of his 15 boundaries.
Maguire and Sam Davies took the score to 73 before Davies was unfortunate to be run-out for a stylish 17 after a smart bit of fielding at square leg.
Amaan Ughradar (31 off 28 balls) and Maguire shared a third wicket partnership off 66 but the former’s dismissal on the deep midwicket boundary with the score at 140-2 saw the visitors lose their last eight wickets for 41 runs.
He was quickly followed by Maguire, who was adjudged to be LBW to Ashton despite being a long way forward.
His innings of 76 was his highest of the season and he scored the bulk of his boundaries through the covers.
A limping Dark bravely batted but his dismissal for 13 signalled the end of Coppice’s resistance, as the last three wickets fell with the score a 181.
Coppice actually scored more fours than Bretherton (33 vs 32) but they weren’t able to build enough telling partnerships in the middle order.
White Coppice 2nd XI captain Martin Cuerden won the toss against Gregson Lane on Saturday and elected to bowl for the first time this season.
The skipper was influenced by a combination of his side’s two recent batting collapses and having a particularly strong bowling line-up at his disposal.
Opening bowlers Nathan Shepard and Anis Haider were particularly miserly, with Gregson Lane getting most of their boundaries off the edge.
Coppice’s luck changed when a ball was lost from one of the edges – and Shepard immediately made the breakthrough when he hit the top of off stump with a beauty.
Gregson Lane reached 58-2 with their No 4 Craig Rooney hitting a couple of lusty blows, including a six off Adam Mannan, which changed the game as it fired the bowler up.
He exacted his revenge when he had Rooney caught behind two balls later before bowling No 5 Luke Rooney with a great delivery for a duck.
In his next over Mannan caught and bowled Gregson Lane’s lynchpin, Peter Woodman, who had carried his bat in the reverse fixture.
At one point lost Gregson Lane lost six wickets for two runs as they collapsed from 58-2 to 60-8.
Mannan finished with 6-33, the best figures for the newly formed 2nd team and adding a new name to the Coppice honours board.
Cuerden kept things tight with figures of 2-9 off seven overs to bowl the visitors out for 76.
Chasing 77 was never going to be straight forward for a team that made only a combined 79 from their previous two innings.
Cuerden settled the early nerves by hitting three boundaries in the second over as Coppice raced to 32-0 off five overs.
The skipper fell for a quickfire 23 a Coppice slipped to 42-4 before a 5th wicket partnership of 31 between the composed Chris Walsh (11 not out) and the attacking Syed Bukhari took the home team to the brink of victory.
Bukhari’s dismissal for 20 brought in debutant Ubaid Rehman to the crease and he hit his first and only ball for six, which must be a first and means he has a Coppice career strike rate of 600!
Coppice’s Sunday team headed to the scenic Bolton By Bowland for a friendly fixture. Batting first, Coppice reached a competitive 167 all out with Anis Haider (20); Chris Hoyle (24); and Max Lawrenson (24) all making solid contributions. Jim Lawrenson chipped in with an undefeated 12 at No 10. Bolton By Bowland chased down the total for the loss of four wickets, with Tom Dulson taking his first wicket for the club while Jim Lawrenson also claimed a victim after starting his over with a cunning wide.