All three teams picked up victories for White Coppice CC this weekend with some quality cricket played across Saturday and Sunday.

White Coppice 1st XI bounced back from last week’s Crabtree Cup semi final heartbreak with a battling victory at Gregson Lane.

Skipper Jake Smalley lost the toss and Coppice were asked to bat first on a rather temperamental track.

Promoted back to his more familiar spot of opener in the absence of Chris Maguire, Bobby Wood got things off to to a perfect start by thumping opening bowler Zack Smith for a crunching drive through the covers in the opening over of the game.

However, things started to unravel quickly for the visitors as Gregson Lane spinner Rob Woods began to tear through the Coppice top order.

Tom Sandells was first to go as he was clean bowled for no score.

Rich Bush then top edged one to Carl Glover at first slip before Wood chipped one to point trying to hit Woods out of the attack.

The skipper was then removed as he was stumped off balance to leave Coppice in a pickle at 17-4.

Nathan Shepard provided some stability with a quick 13 but it was once again a rescue job from the ever reliable duo of Ryan Adderley and Antony Dark.

The two shared a 51 run partnership to bring the game back Coppice’s way and give the side a target to defend.

Dark scored 22 of his 26 runs via boundaries through one four and three sixes which means he has now hit twenty maximums for the campaign.

One of the sixes nearly took out a space satellite before landing in the middle of the football pitch adjacent to the square.

When Dark was caught behind following one that popped on him off the deck, Anis Haider then came in and hit a quick fire 16 before he himself was excellently caught by a diving Josh Hodkinson.

Unlike last week’s heroics against Vernons, the tail failed to wag leaving Coppice 132 all out with Adderley left unbeaten on 58.

After finishing with a slightly below par score, the 1s knew they had to bowl well and bowl well they did.

Haider struck first with the final ball of his first over with an absolute pearler to castle dangerman Phil Woods.

Woods remarked ‘That’s just not fair’ on his way back to the pavilion which raised a few laughs. It was another moment of brilliant banter between the two sides in a game that was played in an excellent spirit.

The removal of their talisman sparked a Gregson Lane collapse which saw them slump from 14-0 to 26-4.

Haider picked up another thanks to a stunning diving one handed catch from behind the stumps by Ant Dark.

Fellow opening bowler Matt Tinsley picked up the other two with the wickets of Josh Kay and Benedict Heaton who were both clean bowled.

Sam Mills and Rob Woods then put on the second highest partnership of the Gregson innings to take the score to 41 before Haider popped up again with another unplayable ball that saw Woods glove the ball onto his stumps.

Nathan Shepard was then brought into the attack and provided the most aesthetically pleasing dismissal of the day.

The once Eton Fives national semi-finalist made Gregson’s number nine Hodkinson play and miss outside his off stump three balls in succession before nipping one back to him that took the top of his middle stump.

Shepard also added the wicket of Glen Eastham thanks to a smart running catch from Ryan Adderley to end with figures of 2-21 off 8.

A mention for Visakh PV who picked up a wicket too when he had Alfie Salmons caught behind.

Tom Sandells swept up the tail by picking up wickets 9 and 10 in successive balls to bring home a 43 run victory in a game that Coppice were able to take maximum points from largely thanks to the excellent batting of Adderley and Dark, who gave the bowlers a score to bowl at.

The 2nd XI bounced back from last weeks disappointment with a comfortable 9 wicket victory over Gregson Lane 2s.

Winning the toss for the 4th time in a row, Martin Cuerden elected to bowl and that decision was quickly vindicated with Ian Aldred striking in his second over.

A couple of excellent catches followed, with Cuerden taking a one handed low slip catch and Mike Houghton taking a sharp close one in, to reduce Gregson Lane to 9-3.

The visitors fought back with a 53 run 4th wicket partnership between Alan Delaney and Stewart Rooney, before Rooney was dismissed for 23 by Houghton. Delaney followed shortly after for 31 off the bowling of Adam Mannan, both caught by Aldred.

This took Aldred’s tally to 6 for the season and top of the divisions outfield catching charts.

Coppice’s catching and fielding was on point with James Hurst taking a good running catch to reduce Gregson Lane to 73-6.

Houghton (4-37) and Mannan (3-13) combined to bowl the visitors out for 90, with the last 4 wickets falling for just 3 runs.

Coppice began the chase positively, with Jeff Smith continuing his new found attacking style to help the score to 31-0 off just 5 overs.

At the other end, Dave Smith, making a Coppice return after 10 years away, was more circumspect, but the introduction of more pace on the ball proved to his liking as he thumped three boundaries in succession in the ninth over to take the score to 52.

J. Smith fell to a sharp catch at slip for a quick fire 30, but the two Smiths had put on 67 – comfortably Coppice’s highest first wicket league partnership of the season and had broken the back of the chase.

This brought Jordan Halliday to the crease and he wasted no time in seeing the game home, hitting two big sixes and a four to seal a win in just 14 overs.

The win takes Coppice above Burscough into 4th and keeps them just 12 points off Blackpool in second.

The win also means Cuerden’s side have already won the same amount of league games this year than they did in the whole of last campaign which shows the excellent progress the side has made in the past few months.

Gregson Lane will be happy to see the back of Coppice this year as they’ve tasted defeat each of the four matches they’ve come up against a side from The Green in league action.

Coppice 3s made it a hat trick of wins this weekend with a win over Darwen on Sunday.

Playing at the excellent Birch Hall Cricket Ground, stand in skip Joe Seager won the toss and elected to bat first.

James Speakman got Coppice off to a quick start with three early boundaries before he was then bowled by James Cordingley with the score on 22.

Chris Scott then fell for just four which brought Blackburn natives and best friends Matt Phillipson and James Hurst to the crease.

Despite hitting a couple of tidy boundaries between them they struggled to kick on but were able to steer the score to 60/4 before their departures.

With a competitive score the aim, Atiq Rehman and Hisham Changi turned things up a notch and began to bat with freedom.

Atiq scored 29 from 32 but it was Changi who would be the pick of the batters as he hit an excellent 34 from 46 which is his best innings for Coppice to date.

The tenth wicket stand of 27 between Changi and David Caple (7*) proved to be crucial for Coppice.

In reply, Darwen got off to a good start with openers David Thirsk and Seth Frankish taking the score to 24 without loss by just the fourth over.

The experienced Thirsk though was soon caught behind by Chris Scott off Atiq’s bowling which signalled the swing of momentum towards Coppice.

The introduction of James Speakman into the attack saw Frankish dismissed via a little inside edge onto his stumps.

Noah Armitt-Tovey and Arthur Lonsdale steadied the ship for the hosts but their crucial partnership was to be undone by some excellent fielding.

A bullet arm throw from Atiq Rehman into Chris Scott saw Armitt-Tovey ran out to bring Coppice back on top.

Rehman then clean bowled Lonsdale to add to what was already becoming a Man of the Match performance.

James Hurst then took a fantastic catch to remove the vastly experienced Stephen Mayers before Syed Bukhari then bowled the over of the day.

A double wicket maiden from the muscle man saw Ismail Ismail (1) and Daniel Atherton (0) sent back to the pavilion to leave Darwen at 87/6 and in need of a serious tail wagging to give them any chance at victory.

Lien Almond did his best as he hit a progressive 38 but he couldn’t find an able partner at the other end.

Batting hero Hisham Changi was given the ball and soon took the wicket of James Cordingley.

It took a smart catch at deep mid off from stand in skipper Seager off Changi to dismiss the aggressive Jordan Shaw which left Coppice just one bit of cricket away from an impressive win.

Almond grew frustrated and ended up being the final wicket as he let one through the gate to seal a cracking win for Coppice 3s.

A special mention for Dan Warbrick who was described as a wall in the field by skipper Seager.

The win means Coppice 3s have picked up four wins so far this campaign which is more than the Sunday side managed in the previous two seasons combined.

A first win as a skipper to for Seags!

Tags: Cricket, Match Report, White Coppice CC