A delayed round up after a remarkable weekend of cricket, across the club, the county, and indeed the world! My apologies for the lateness of this post. With two matches over the weekend, the league newsletter, grandparent duties, work, and winning tickets to see the Doobie Brothers (who were excellent), it’s been busy!

Anyway, as regards cricket - do check out the end of the 2nd XI Div 1 fixture between Marple 2 & Bramhall 2 for starters, it’s absolutely extraordinary. And also, if you haven’t seen it, search on YouTube for the highlights of day three of the third West Indies v Australia Test in Jamaica. I met Mitchell Starc in 2015 after scoring an Eng/Aus women’s ODI and I did such a good selling job on Dids that we have a verbal agreement he would play for us if ever the circumstances were right!

But much closer to home, and of great significance to us, a pretty good weekend all round for the club and our many sides, although with one or two blemishes on the results card.

Let’s get the tougher stuff dealt with first and look at the losses. The Womens 3s lost out by some margin against division leaders Whalley Range on Thurs, Katie Conroy’s two wkts just about all there was to cheer with only extras in double figures in the Dids reply. A tough game but all part of the learning. The womens 2s made a better fist of things with the bat at Woodford on Sun against Div 2 leaders Upton, Ramilee Cabral top scoring with 45 in Dids 140-8, but after Louise Hevican took two early wkts the Upton 3rd wkt pair built a good partnership and won their side the game. Dids still second in the table but 38 pts behind Upton at the top.

The Wanderers did pretty well to put 188-8 on the board against Div 3 East leaders Bredbury SM but despite a wholehearted effort in the field, BSM reached their target with ten deliveries unused, which leaves the Wanderers sixth in the ten team table, but they play Heaton Mersey 4s next who have only won once all season.

Tom has written of the 2As loss at Bowdon on Saturday and of course the 1s lost for the second time this season in the league, Brooklands having the better of things for much of their game, and when Kev Carroll hits his straps, he is difficult to bowl at. Fortunately for the 1s leaders Hyde also lost – a game they know they should have won - so we remain just one point behind them. But Nantwich are on a roll and now up to third after a seventh straight win. The 1s next two league games – home to Nantwich, then away to Hyde. The week after that, Nantwich and Hyde play each other! So a pivotal three weeks, you feel.

However, Sunday brought an increasingly impressive display out of the side as they beat Chester BH to go through to the semi-finals of the Cheshire Cup. Neither side was at full strength but there was still plenty of talent on display and Dids made theirs count just that bit more. It was a terrible start, Tim out first ball, Abhay dropped two balls later, Tom out in the next over! When Steve fell in the 23rd, it was 81-5 and CBH were well on top.

Fortunately for us, Chester were missing their spinner Josh Leach and needed to find a fifth bowler from their number, eventually using a combination of three players. And by that time, Abhay had been joined by James G who played his best knock of the season, some fabulous, authoritative ball striking and good running seeing the pair turn things round completely. That fifth CBH bowler went for a combined total of 84 runs in 11 overs (Alex Money unable to complete his allocation due to a problem with his bowling hand) and that proved to be the difference, Dids piling on 96 in the last 10 to reach a healthy looking 229-7.

CBH set off like a train but Dids found a crucial breakthrough, Jonty’s impressive, pacy spell getting due reward. Will’s first six overs (1-8) really turned things, though, the run rate shooting up and the important wkt of Money in the bag. Tim took a fine boundary catch to dismiss Noah Vickery, who enjoys himself against us normally, and from then on the guys never let the initiative slip, for which they deserve massive credit. And commiserations to Chester, who had a gruelling game on Sat and then brought as strong a side as possible over, and made a real game of it.

So a Cheshire Cup semi-final awaits but it will be a while - there are still two more quarter finals to take place, one of which is not scheduled until August 17th! Hyde are also through to the semi-finals, winning at Bramhall quite comfortably, so let’s see what the draw brings! The four other sides competing for S/F places are Lindow, Timperley, Maritime & Wallasey so from a purely geographical perspective I would be happy to see the two Prem sides make it through!

Tonight – Weds 16 – sees the 1s travel to Bowdon for a T20 quarter-final in what promises to be an intriguing match. I umpired Bowdon’s last 16 win at Timperley which was a very impressive performance and they have also beaten Nantwich, knocking off 205 at their place please note, in the group stages. So a fascinating match in prospect but I am confident that if the boys play as they can, they will win. All support very welcome of course.

Should the 1s get through, Finals Day will be on Sunday! Alderley Edge will host, playing Cheadle in the first semi, with Chester BH awaiting either the 1s or Bowdon in the second match scheduled to start at 13:15. Should it be a Chester/Dids semi it will be, I believe, a first ever T20 meeting between the sides! Dids last made Finals Day in 2017, losing a brilliant Final to Neston in a tight finish.

Back to Saturday and the 2s relentless march towards retaining their Prem Division title, a colossal 221 run win at Neston an accurate reflection of the gulf between the sides and the form of the top five, Chris Becker (two tons already this season) making 86 – 295 runs in his last three league inns – and Evan 113 (97 bs), also his second ton of 2025. The pair put on a maginificent opening stand of 221 in 30 overs (7.36 rpo, please note, 25x4 and 4x6 between them) and if that wasn’t game over, the recently joined Jacob Mills then reeled off a run-a-ball 45 and the three quicks clattered a combined 66 off 41 bs (5x6 between them), a thoroughly dispirited Neston contributing 36 extras as the 2s closed on a mammoth 361-5.

Ryan commented: “it was a long drive and, of course, baking hot at Parkgate. The toss felt like a massive moment and luckily I called correctly, batting a no-brainer on a nice-looking pitch. Both the openers were brilliant and the ball was disappearing to the boundary regularly, and yes, by the time they were parted it felt like the game was done and it was just a question of how many. The Neston bowlers/fielders toiled for over 4 hours in the heat and at the interval they looked forlorn as they trudged off the field. They clearly didn’t fancy facing our pacemen and early wickets meant the innings wasn’t going to last long. I bowled our seamers in short spells before the spinners took over in an attempt to rattle through some overs. One lad made a decent 50 but they were all out inside 32 overs, a brutal loss for the league’s bottom side.”

Another lengthy trip for the 2s next Sat as they head to Nantwich, with T20 action ahead the following Tuesday as they also have a quarter-final tie away at Bowdon!

Back to Sunday to finish, with a big win for the 3s at Georgians in what became an extras-fest. 88 in total, the 53 that help make up the 3s 277-8 were the most eye catching. Corbs made 82 off 95 opening up, Nikash a terrific 48 (dashing from a morning game to make it to the ground) and the skipper himself a carefree 38 as the rapid outfield and teeny boundary got a peppering. Two wkts apiece for Joe, Xavi and Harri, with one each for Zohaib and Madhu, meant that Dids got the max 12 pts for taking 8 wkts in their 105 run win. Top of the table too, after Brooklands lost! The 3s still have to play Brooklands twice in their run-in and face Toft next week.

The 4s recorded a very pleasing 45 run win over Cheadle, recovering from 43-3 to post 255-5 after Kush Patel made an excellent 78* (54 bs), Shane Ryan 54, James Coventry a handy 37 and Tanmay 21* in a 105* stand with Kush. 49 extras from Cheadle were also gratefully received. The 4s worked hard as a unit in the hot conditions and the win sees them joint third in the table now.

The 5s won what looks like a thriller at Davenham by 2 runs defending 149, but unfortunately there is no detail on the scorecard to illuminate what went on. But a seventh win of the campaign sees the 5s joint second in Div 2, just 10pts off top spot.

Finally the Knights won at Cheadle Hulme Ladybridge (see the separate write-up) and we must not forget the over 40s, who having lost the last two, got a much needed win against Lindow. Having beaten them by 2 runs earlier in the season, Dids positively hammered them by 4 runs on Weds! A night to remember for the Eminence Grise, Rehmani retiring n.o. after opening up with a run-a-ball 30 (Sunil and Simon - again - also reaching retirement score) before clean bowling two batsmen with the first two balls of the Lindow reply to be on a hat-trick! One more wkt followed later before he then completed a run out off the last ball of the match. Taxi!