Wet Weekend

ONLY one league match could be completed at Stretford Cricket Club this weekend, as rain and pestilence set in for the majority of Saturday.

The 1stXI were away in Winton, who did manage to get their innings in before the tumbling rain called a halt to proceedings.

They reached 203/4 before declaring, largely due to Naz Khan's fantastic 119 not out, which included 14 fours and five sixes.

Andy Walker contributed a fine 41 when he opened the batting.

Pick of the Stretford bowling came from Gaurav Sharma, who took 2/61 from a long eighteen over spell.

The players did not manage to get back on the field, and the match was abandoned.

It was a similar situation in the reverse fixture at Lesley Road, although Stretford's 2ndXI will feel that they were robbed of twenty points.

Winton were dismissed after scoring just 67 runs, with only Dave Porter's 22 being mentionable.

Stretford's Rick Buckingham bowled extremely well, taking four wickets for just 6 runs from nine overs.

Wesley Smithson bowled very economically too, taking 2/12 from eight overs.

Ben Casey also picked up two wickets.

Stretford again did not get chance to chase the total, as conditions were unplayable.

The 3rdXI however did complete their home fixture against Bolton on the drier Sunday.

Bolton collected 137 runs, with a fifty coming from J Patel and a useful 24 made by Azub.

Martin Kelly bowled awesomely, taking 3/17 from twelve overs.

The experienced Gordon Agnew took 2/36 from thirteen overs, whilst Jamie Malcolm and John Foulkes picked up two wickets apiece.

In reply, Stretford made the target and scored 140/5 with some overs to spare, Paul Foulkes batted well and ended up on 29, Lance Smith hit a very helpful 27 and Gordon Agnew and John Foulkes concluded the match with 24 n.o. and 19 n.o. respectively.

Stretford romped home victors by five wickets, and claimed twenty points to lift them from lower table obscurity.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.