1 May 2018
Under 14 cricket v Giggleswick - Saturday 28 April
Kirkham - 130 all out (22.1 overs)
Giggleswick - 74 for 9 (25 overs)
Kirkham won by 56 runs
On a cloudy spring afternoon, Kirkham secured a tremendous victory against Giggleswick school. On one of the wettest wickets ever seen in school cricket, Kirkham lost the toss and batted first. Conditions suited a pinch hitter at the top of the order as it was going to be difficult to run quick singles in the conditions. Tobias Parkinson was the man for the job, and although he gave a couple of chances to the opposition, he struck a magnificent 67 which including six 6's and five 4's. Anything short was dispatched and the opposition paid the price for trying to bowl too quickly for the conditions. Tobias was ably supported by Theo Mihell and Aaron Pope at the top of the order who all contributed to the teams highest every total in Kirkham colours.
In the field, Coach Duncan suggested that the bowlers reduced their pace and the captain Charlie Hodgson opening the bowling with his teasing leg spin. Harry Snape opened at the other end and, with a shortened run up, managed to bowl a consistent line and length that troubled the Giggleswick batsmen. It was a really good performance by all the bowlers with Theo Mihell taking three wickets, and Harry Snape two. Man of the match Parkinson, also bowled well giving nothing away taking two wicket for 6 runs in 5 overs - quite an achievement! There were also some good catches in the field with Snape, Mihell and Eastham taking three tough chances. Overall a great performance which should give the boys every confidence as they embark on their journey in the Lancashire Cup on Thursday.
Kirkham 1st XI 77 ALL OUT
Giggleswick 42 ALL OUT
The first XI produced a magnificent result at Giggleswick on Saturday on a typical green, damp, early season wicket. Kirkham were asked to bat first and got off to a solid start with Nathan Wolf and Nathan Wood putting on 26 for the first wicket, the latter punishing anything overpitched with some sublime cover drives. Wolf departed first for 13, deceived by a short delivery which he spliced to square leg. Harrison Ross fell one run later to a well disguised Yorker before Wood was caught behind to leave Kirkham on 32-3. Charlie Partington punished anything loose in a quick-fire 20, but the Kirkham batting crumbled as the middle to lower order batsmen found it difficult to master the unpredictable bounce. Ted Acton did at least battle for the only other double figure score of 11 which left Kirkham much to ponder, but with a score on the board. All credit to the hosts for bowling and fielding extremely well.
Giggleswick lost an early wicket as Smayalie clean bowled the young opener but they then steadied the ship to take the score onto 19 before Nathan Wolf caught a superb catch with two hands diving away to his left. This gave Kirkham a real boost and some belief. The next four Giggleswick batsmen all went for nought as Harrison Ross used the conditions superbly, he was also aided by another outstanding one handed catch by Charlie Partington to leave Giggleswick reeling at 29-7. Will Gregory then replaced Smayalie and cleaned up the tail, producing figures of 3-5 from 4 overs. This was a miraculous win by the 1st XI who believed, after a couple of wickets fell, that a win was a reality.
This win capped off a busy week of cricket for the 1st XI, who suffered a heavy defeat at Bolton the previous Saturday and then played the MCC on Tuesday, which was rained off after 21 overs with the visitors on 47-1. The following day in the National 20/20 Competition at AKS they lost by 8 wickets to Lancaster GS and then produced a much improved performance to beat the hosts by 4 wickets after chasing 144 to win, Joe Thompson top scoring with 31.