May is especially busy as a cricket month. The league season is in full swing with the Sunday sides starting their campaigns, the 1s embarking on their National K/O campaign, Cheshire visit DCC again, and preparations for the T20 Cup competitions that get underway for our Saturday sides in early June. And loads of junior cricket too! So as we enjoyed a first dry and (on odd occasions) warm-ish BH weekend to herald its arrival, we can look back over a successful weekend – albeit there were disappointments for some of our teams. So we’ll get those out of the way first.

The availability issues which had a significant impact further along the selectoral food-chain are well-known amongst our members, with Andy Harty’s Knights only able to take a team of 9 over to Hale Barns for their match with Urmston 5s. Not surprisingly, the Knights came up short, 101 all out in their chase of 180, but full and absolute credit to skipper Andy, Vinod Patel, Alfie Box, Jackson Bridge, Darren Garlick, Toby Smith, Karan Singh, Dipesh Visant and Deno Prince for all turning out, giving a very good account of themselves, and representing the club with pride. Let us hope that the Knights will have a full compliment in every remaining fixture.

Our womens teams have had a tough start and there were two more defeats suffered over the weekend. The 1s subsided badly entertaining Leyland on BH Monday, going from 63-0 to 108 all out inside a 20-over period with two catastrophic run outs not helping their cause at all. A loss by 7 wkts was the outcome and there’s clearly work to do with Rosh currently absent captaining Cheshire (who play on Sundays) and three other key players also playing for their counties. But, time is currently on the 1s side.

The womens 3s opened their season in Div 4 East with a heavy loss to Brooklands (played at Stockport Trinity) but the 2s were a ray of May sunshine over in North Wales, where they held on to beat Northop Hall by 12 runs in a thriller. Holly McCurrie made a superb 88 as she and Helen Johnson (58) opened up with a stand of 137 in 19 overs, but it was soon Herbert Sherbert time as two overs later it was 145-4! Despite five ducks in total, Zoe managed to work with the tail and the 2s finished with 215. There was a huge stand of 164 in the NH reply, but the girls battled hard, kept things in check and did just enough to clinch the victory.

But to return as we must to the more downbeat theme, our 4s suffered a weekend of double defeat, their injured skipper not too concerned league-wise, one suspects, but a 44-run loss to Hyde was not the way the 4s wanted to kick off. Zack Ekstein’s 4-53 was the bowling highlight, along with Isaac Hindmarsh getting a wicket with the first ball of the match. Haris boomed 5 sixes but too many others got starts without kicking on.

The 4s loss at Sale in the T20 on Monday put paid to their hopes of qualification, sadly, despite the best efforts of young Aaron Grimbaldeston, whose 4-17 was superb. Despite being awarded the fixture against Runcorn after Runcorn were found to have played an 'inappropriate player' it was not to be another potential cup clash with the 3s as the batting never really got going. I’m sure Jack will rally the troops, however, as they head down the road to ‘Jeremy Beadle’ on Sunday.

On the happier side of the things, it was a weekend of double delight for JB’s 3’s, who secured qualification to the T20 knockout stages for the eighth successive season (excluding 2020 when there wasn’t a competition) with a handsome win at Timperley on BH Monday. A super stand of 119 between Mash and Simon helped put the 3s in an all-but impregnable position, and the bowlers went about their business skillfully, efficiently and cheerfully as the hosts finished miles short of their 173 target. It was good to see Ben Lowe in particular really generate some zip, 2-10 his deserved reward although there was much mirth in the catching cordon when he took two wickets with consecutive balls, only for the sap of an umpire to call no-ball on both occasions!

The 3’s league campaign got started the day previous at Ashley, ending up with a massive 153 run win. An opening stand of 95 paved the way for a monster, but Ashley pegged things back and at 160-7 it could have gone either way. However, Zohaib’s calm and mature knock took the 3s through their 40 over allocation and 221-8 was always going to take some getting. As it was, Joe, Enam, Xavi and Harri shared the wickets in a fantastic display as the hosts lasted till just after the drinks interval.

Ashley were also the opposition for the Wanderers over at Flixton in Div 3 East, Moeed Chugtai in charge for Dids and having the great pleasure of watching young James Coventry bat for some 30 overs, making a superb 80 (90 bs) as the Wanderers hit 237-9 in their allocation after being asked to bat. In time-honoured fashion the skip then brought himself on as eighth change to mop up the tail, Ashley 124 all out.

Simon’s 5s pulled off a smart run chase against Urmston on their back pitch, the top five scoring 30, 55, 43, 23 and 34* as they reached their 216 target with a couple of overs in hand – well done to all.

Saturday was a happy day all round. An exciting young prospect burst onto the scene for the 2As at Macclesfield, going by the name of Rehmani apparently. 6-32 in 13 overs of sustained pace and hostility with five slips and a gully, I am led to believe. Well backed up by Aaron G (8-6-9-2), the pair had the hosts up slack alley in no time, Macc 89 all out and the 2As home and hosed in 17 overs, heading back to Dids with a 9 wkt win.

They may just have been in time to see Chris Becker thump the six that sealed a third straight win for the 2s, and brought up a wonderful ton for a talented and popular player. His opening stand of 145 with Tom Brady (64) took any possible tensions out of the chase as Nantwich were left to rue blowing their decent platform of 146-3 at halfway. Jonty and Raza picked up three each, Seb (5-3-2-3) powering in to blow the tail away.

Simultaneously at the same time, the 1s were down at Whitehouse Lane, taking on the reigning champions Nantwich. Memories of the sodden conclusion of the 2024 season were still fresh but the 1s good start to the season (compared to the hosts’ two defeats) gave Nick’s side cautious optimism, and after being put in they made a highly creditable 271-8. The returning Rob Sehmi again showed his class with 68, but the contributions of the Green brothers and Sam were equally crucial, something Nick was quick to recognise when he spoke to me afterwards.

With ball in hand Dids were pretty much close to their best, three wickets inside the first 9 overs really giving them a boost. James G bowled with real hostility, trapping the dangerous Robinson for just 8 and his figures of 9-2-26-3 reflected a terrific all-round match for ‘The Horse’. Nantwich have secured the services of Rob Jones, and he was keen to atone for his fairly modest returns against Dids in previous encounters, batting some 2½ hours for 116.

But Dids kept chipping away, a very rare wicketless afternoon for both Steve G and Will being compensated for by the skipper finally having a bowl (3-51) and Alex Young again impressing (2-33 in 8 overs). The extras count (18) was much more tolerable and the overall margin of victory (33 runs) was a deserved reward for a superb team display. Three from three is a terrific achievement. Nick rightly enthused afterwards about the depth with bat and ball the side possesses, and with others knocking on the 1s selection door, it’s a promising start.

That start will be put to the test again next weekend with a double header, Hyde coming to Wilmslow Rd on Sat in what promises to be a cracking match, before Halesowen arrive on Sunday for the National KO. All support welcome of course!