Jeff Smith took a Coppice best 7-13 and Coppice 1st XI made it seven straight wins in another memorable week for the club.

Veteran Smith and John Townson were the heroes of White Coppice 2nd XI’s 73-run win against Penwortham 5th XI.

Captain Martin Cuerden won his second toss in a row and elected to bat first on the astro turf.

Coppice got off to a quick start with Jeff Smith and Janayed Ilyas putting on 32 in just six overs before Smith was yorked for 11 – but his game was far from over.

Ilyas and the in-form James Hurst swiftly followed to leave Coppice wobbling at 38-3.

Elliot France and Russ Millhouse steadied things, putting on 25 for the fourth wicket, before Penwortham skipper Tim Raynor took three wickets in an over, including both in batsman, to leave Coppice 64-6.

The next three wickets took the score to 86-9, however this looked under par when No 11 John Townson joined Ben Knights in the middle with 12 overs left to play.

With the game plan to take it deep and see what they could put on, Knights took that message to heart, for the second time this season, dropping anchor to let his partner do the bulk of the scoring. 

At one point, Knights went 36 balls without scoring, as his team-mates monitored his strike rate at the sidelines.

At the other end Townson was more aggressive, having been dropped early he finished with 28 not out, including the only six of the game. 

The last pair hit 16 off the last over to leave Coppice with a much more competitive 134 to defend.

The last wicket partnership of 48 equalled Coppice’s best in the Play-Cricket era, however it came at a cost with Townson pulling a hamstring, leaving him unable to bowl.

This meant Cuerden had to find a new opening bowler and the last-minute decision to throw the ball to Smith worked a treat, taking wickets with his first two legal deliveries.

Adam Mannan was the other opener, and he bowled tightly without much reward. 

He did pick up the Penwortham opening bat, Stuart Bowdler, who has just looking set.

Smith though continued to rip though the Penwortham line up, taking the next five wickets to fall.

With the ball on a string, his dismissal of Dilan Soni for 5 was an absolute peach. 

Taking his first 5fer in four years, in his last over Smith ended up on another hat trick, but couldn’t complete a magic day, finishing with the remarkable figures of 7-13. 

Although his seventh wicket was by far his worst ball of the match, leaving his teammates to apologise to the dismissed batsman.

After both openers had bowled out, ‘chief burglar-in-chief’ Cuerden finished the innings off with two wickets in four balls, being stranded on a hat trick ball for the 2nd week in a row. 

Penwortham were dismissed for 61 to give Coppice another 12-point haul following another excellent fielding performance.

At the halfway point in the season, Cuerden ‘s team sit fifth in Division 8, just two points behind second-placed Burscough 2nd XI.

White Coppice 1st XI remain top of Division 5 at the halfway point in the season with a comprehensive seven-wicket against Wyre.

Jake Smalley’s men have won seven consecutive league and cup games – one more than the six they managed in 2022 and 2024.

White Coppice groundsman Phil Dewhurst had to chase away an unwelcome sheep off the outfield ahead of Saturday’s game.

Smalley lost the toss and Wyre’s captain Steve Rawcliffe had no hesitation in batting first.

Wyre’s experienced opener Tom Birtwistle hit the fall ball – a floaty leg side full toss – from Matt Tinsley to the square leg boundary but perished off the last ball courtesy of a smart catch at short extra cover by Chris Maguire.

Fellow opener Alastair Woodhouse hit Ibby Akram to Jordan Halliday at long-off for 7 while Rob Cleave was caught behind by Ant Dark for a single off the same bowler.

Hard-hitting No 4 Marcus Webster immediately hit Akram for 6 but the bowler exacted his revenge when the batsman holed out to Ryan Adderley, who took a brilliant catch at wide long on, which left the fielder ringing his hand in pain.

Adderley has now taken 11 catches this second – second only to Coppice wicketkeeper Ant Dark, who has taken 15 to go with five stumpings.

Akram finished with 3-25, his best figures of the season.

At the other end, Tinsley took 2-22 off his 11 overs and now has 24 victims for the season, the third highest haul in the division.

Coppice took some excellent catches, including Tom Sandells’ falling effort to dismiss Kenneth Crabtree for 13.

Adderley finished with 2-16 and Nathan Shehard was rewarded with two wickets in an over straight after the drinks break to bowl the visitors out for 74.

Coppice’s reply got off to a bad start when Richard Bush was caught at leg slip for 2.

Maguire passed 5,000 runs for White Coppice when he reached 18 but departed shortly afterwards for 20 after he was caught and bowled to leave the innings at 37-2.

Jordan Halliday perished for 7 but Adderley (31 not out) and Sandells (11 not out) ensured there no more alarms to reach 75-3 with Sandells hitting the winning runs.

Adderley thought he’d hit only his 8th six in 627 games to the cheers of his team-mates but his meaty pull shot was adjudged to have bounced the wrong side of the boundary.

Coppice visit second-placed Preston Strikers next Saturday, who will be looking for revenge for last week’s Crabtree Cup defeat.

White Coppice’s Sunday team made their annual pilgrimage up to the picturesque Eskdale ground for a 25-over match.

Batters had to retire at 30 and the precise order was sorted by a random name generator – pointing to the more relaxed nature of the fixture.

Bowling wise, Coppice struggled to contain an Eskdale batting line up who managed to clear the smallest boundary with regularity with eight maximums aiding a total of 170-5 off their 25. 

Martin Cuerden was the pick of the bowlers with 2-26 (7), with Dan Warbrick and Chris Dale, playing his first game of the season after finishing his exams, the other wicket-takers.

In reply, Coppice posted 114-5 off their 25, unable to take advantage of the boundary in the same way. 

Cuerden top scored with a run-a-ball 38, after initially retiring at 30, with James Mawdesley hitting a career best 21 not out.