On Sunday 15th September our Under 11s rounded off a glorious season by winning the GMCL Under 11s Pairs Cup for the first time in our history, thus completing an incredible “cup double” following our success in the County Cup the previous weekend.
On a damp day where ball dominated the bat with runs and boundaries difficult to come by, the first semi-final saw Denton St Lawrence CC beat Greenmount CC after a cluster of wickets for DSL. The second semi-final with GCC taking on Friarmere in front of a large and excitable crowd was a much tighter affair and went right down to the last ball of the game. Greenfield, after being out in to bat, batted with great maturity against a strong bowling side containing both Lancashire opening bowlers, GCC steadily building a score whilst protecting wickets rather than trying to accumulate runs at pace. Only Harley with 15 runs achieved double figures, but only 2 wickets were lost allowing Greenfield to reach 237 for 2 off 16 overs. In reply Friarmere scored more fluently but also lost 7 wickets against hostile GCC bowling and tight fielding, the pick of the GCC bowlers being Lewis with season best figures of 3 overs, 3 wickets for 6 runs. With only 2 balls to go and 12 runs needed, the penultimate ball was launched into the park for 6, creating a tense finish however Will held his nerve to bowl a dot ball and win the game for Greenfield.
The final between Greenfield and Denton St Lawrence was played in increasing drizzle but was a less tense affair with GCC taking command of the game from an early stage, scoring 265 runs for the loss of only 4 wickets, Lewis and Will both scoring 18 apiece. In reply Denton St Lawrence were restricted to 209 for the loss of 11, the pick of the bowlers being Jim with 4 wickets for 1 run off 2 overs and Harley, opting to bowl rather than keep wicket, returning seasons best figures of 3 for 5 off 3 overs, allowing Greenfield to add the GMCL Cup to the Lancashire Cup triumph the previous week.
This completed a hugely successful season for GCC. All together our players have played 21 games this season, scoring 2505 runs and taking 194 wickets along the way. Well done guys!
We are also proud that seven of our Greenfield under 11s (Will, Harley, Lewis, Harrison, Jim, James, Jake and also Ben from the under 9s) have been in the Oldham District squad this season, with five players (Will, Lewis, Harley, Harrison and Jim) representing Oldham District in the semi final and final of the Bob Hurst Rosebowl trophy. Our boys contributed to another successful season for the Oldham District team and particularly in the semi and the final. Jim top scored and took 2 crucial late wickets in the semi final win against Bolton. Then in the final on 12th September Will blasted the opposition away with 4 wickets and then carried his bat as well as top scoring as Oldham (84 for 5) beat Lancaster and Morecambe (83 for 9) to retain the Bob Hurst Rosebowl Trophy for a third successive year.