Another highly respectable weekend for the Didsbury senior sides, and if we stretch that to include midweek, where the o40s won for the third time in four games, the record reads 4 wins, 2 wins via concessions, 1 draw, and three losses.

The losses first, all occurring on a Sunday of mixed conditions, at times downright unfavourable, and from what I can glean, matches that all seemed to stretch until well into the evening. The 4s bowled Trafford Metrovicks out for 173 but the 9th and 10th TM pair added 46 frustrating runs to get them there. With the rain that had reduced the game to 36 overs a side coming and going, the 4s then made a disastrous start, the first three batsmen all bowled as the board showed 7-3. Despite an excellent 64 from keeper Kush Patel, his was the last wkt to fall as the 4s made 127. Three losses in their first five is not a good start but the 4s are mid-table and know they can play better cricket.

The 5s suffered a first loss in a curious looking game played at DCC with Stockport Trinity, both sides somehow facing their full 40 overs despite torrential downpours in the area in mid-afternoon. Dids put Trinity in and they got up to 219-9, Simon Taylor the pick of the attack with 5-36, but after an early run-out, the 5s came to a grinding halt, finishing on 152-3 with Ibrahim Faisal making 69* off 124 balls faced as the game seemed to take a long time to complete. The 5s are still in decent shape, third in Div 2 with a trip to bottom side Bollington next Sun.

The Wanderers, boosted by an appearance from Hannah Jones, were pitted against Bowdon, who have had a good start in Div 3 East, and despite a dashing 67 off 46 from Adam Siddique (in company with the Doc, who made a stately 11 off 49), and a handy unbroken last wkt stand of 28 between Sam Hartford and Will Lord, a total of 175-9 proved well within range for Bowdon who knocked the runs off with six overs and six wickets in hand.

The better news on Sunday came from, for starters, posh Prestbury, with a makeshift Knights side doing themselves and the club proud. Ben Sadler on his first appearance of the season made 45, Ben Stoneman 29 on his first outing, and N.Bellamy (definitely not on his first appearance) strode out at no.9 and without an apparent care in the world, boshed 40* off 28, including a six according to the scorecard, if you please. Bells and Dipesh Vasant added a handy 45 in the Knights’ 188-8, Dipesh then turning his golden arm over to bag 3-11, along with Ben S (3-17) the pick of the attack, Prestbury all out 161 and a fine first win for Andy Harty’s men (discounting the concession win they also have).

JB’s 3s had a second blank matchday in a row after Grappenhall cried off at the eleventh hour. Much as though an easy 12 pts is never to be sniffed at, the 3s are short of match practice going into their T20 QF with Prem leaders Brooklands on Tuesday eve. It will be the 3s eighth successive appearance at this stage of the T20 competition and it is as stern a test as they could face - all support over at Brookers very welcome.

The girls had a great day, especially Jodie Filer, who was presumably beaming from ear to ear after her 8-4-17-7 for the 1s against Georgians, who tumbled from 54-2 to 93 all out as a result. Even sans Rosh there was still plenty of quality in the batting, and despite an early scare at 6-2, Ellie Micklewright (33) and Emily Wilkins (51* off 67) added 87 before Ellie was bowled going for the winning hit. Emily took care of that off the next ball, and it was successive wins for the 1s. Meantime, not so far away, the 2s were entertaining Hayfield at Woodford, coming out on top in a low scoring game in which extras top scored for both sides. Skipper Jessye made batting look easy with 25 off 26, but it was a struggle for the others, and Dids had work to do when rain reduced Hayfield’s target to 87 off 31 overs. The 2s really put in a shift on an iffy afternoon, Louise Hevican the pick of a good attack with 4-13 as Hayfield were bowled out for 78 and the 2s won it by 9 runs.

The 2s have also progressed to the QF of the Womens Club Plate T20, after opponents Llandudno conceded the game scheduled for tonight (Mon 2 June). You will perhaps gather that the Club Plate attracts entrants from a wide geographical area including the North East, Yorkshire and Lancashire. It was with no little relief therefore that the 2s got a home draw against Blyth (Nottinghamshire) on June 22nd, the game to be played at Woodford.

Saturday was a different day, two excellent wins at home and not so far away from home for the 2s and 2As heartening news. We were in the happy position of fielding three really strong sides, with Seb making his mark in a 2As appearance, as our correspondent TB has written about in another piece. You could forgive Heaton Mersey for thinking they were going to wrap things up fairly soon when Dids were 62-6, but Seb at eight proved to be a tactical masterstroke from the Eminence Grise as, in tandem with excellent recent addition Archie Elder, the pair added a superb 104, Seb then amongst the wickets before the popular late matinee of The OGJ show made it four wins from five in the month, the 2As very much on the premises at the business end of the table.

Ryan was rightly delighted with the 2s comeback from the sickener at Cheadle the week before, their annual tough tussle with Chester BH proving, for once, fairly one-sided. Ryan received an early boost via a ‘lucky coin’ from scorer Rosie, the toss won for the first time in 2025 and Dids batting. “Yes, we made a steady start and wanted to accelerate but Chester’s bowlers never missed a beat and accompanied by their ground fielding, scoring became difficult. We had to rethink what a competitive total was going to be and some late order hitting from Adam and junior Bidder proved key, getting us to 207. Chester wanted to be proactive when they came out but the pace and skill of our three seamers proved too much, we fielded brilliantly and a 92-run win showed the difference between the sides on the day. A fine win played in good spirits between two good sides.”

Ryan was especially and rightly pleased with his catch to dismiss Andrew McFarlane, always a key CBH batter, which is our photo this week, summing up the great fielding alluded to that was such an important part of the victory. And, make no mistake, Chester will be there or thereabouts come the end of the season, and a win over them is always a marker of a good team.

So, finally, to the 1s, who drew at Chester. Yes, drew. It feels strange to write that. They certainly had the better of the game and, after Chester’s initial dominance, played some great cricket to wrest the initiative and almost squeeze a win out of a match where CBH never seemed genuinely interested in having a tilt at the target.

It was a big one, mind, 295 after having had the 1s at 75-5 after 22 overs. The general consensus amongst the CBH watchers around us in the marquee (from where we had to score the game) was that putting Dids in was the right move, but I couldn’t make sense of it. And when Nick and Steve joined forces in the key passage of the game, the CBH watchers seemed to melt away with their opinions. I hope they didn’t stop watching though, because it was the best part of the game and an absolute treat to watch.

Nick poked a leading edge just a few yards short of mid-off when he was on 5, and Steve’s second ball was a fortunate inside edge down to fine leg for a boundary, but after that it was as assured and as classy as you can imagine. Nick hit sixes in successive overs as Ash Davis was kept on and his pacy bowling kept disappearing to the boundary. Steve casually flicked a magnificent lofted drive over midwicket to bring up his 50 and the 100 partnership (15 overs), taking 13 off the over in total, while Nick’s dismissive hook off Davis for his third six was a magnificent shot, smack out of the middle and sailing way over the canal to be lost for good. Wow!

The stand of 137 in 19.2 overs ended when Nick misread a looping delivery, but there was no let up, the Horse a useful 21 off 19 before the General joined forces with the Wolf, six overs still to bat. What followed was every bit as enjoyable, as the ball was deflected away into gaps, or alternately stroked effortlessly away to the boundary, Will smacking a straight six off the spinner Leach (who had earlier dismissed Sam, for a nice bit of scorers satisfaction) before Davis was brought back on to finish this nonsense off. He returned 2-0-19-0 as both batters creamed boundaries off him (Davis 13-0-93-1 in total) and a magnificent 294 indicated that 219 runs had been added by the last 5 wts at 6.63 rpo.

The CBH reply was curious, neither one thing nor the other really. Alex Money and Rick Moore are class acts with the bat and although they both played as well as you would expect, they didn’t look like they were intent on really upping the ante. Yes, they kept the Dis attack at bay for 25 overs - Money should have been stumped when the score was 50, the only real blemish on the fielding effort – but when he was dismissed the asking rate was above 7, and Chester seemed more concerned to avoid defeat whilst having a bit of a look with wkts in hand.

I thought, having stuck us in, they should have shown more desire to have a real go. Dids got them 8 down, but off the final ball Leach hit a soaring six which meant CBH had 80% of the Dids total and therefore Dids could only take 8 draw pts instead of 10, which kind of summed up the extent of CBH’s ambition on the day.

So a very long afternoon and a very trying one at times in a far from satisfactory scorers position, ended on a downbeat note, which was odd given how well Dids had played. Keeping going when a big partnership is building is hard work, but the 1s stuck to it, kept it as lively as they could, and backed each other up in the field, and almost got their just rewards.

Chester, although not at full strength, are still a formidable side, but the obvious respect they had for Didsbury is a really positive sign that our stock in the Premier League is rightly high. It’s a talented side that plays in the right way that I am proud to score for, and although it wasn’t a great match, the 1s had lots to take from the performance as they head into a busy period of successive double-header weekends interspersed with T20 action; away at Urmston on Thurs June 12, away at Cheadle Tues 17 and then at home to Heaton Mersey the following evening, Weds 18.

As ever, congratulations to all our winners especially and thanks to all those representing the club at senior level. June will be busy for many of our sides and all support, practical and from the boundary watching on, is much appreciated.