On Saturday Heaton Mersey visited the Green and on winning the toss their skipper had no hesitation in asking the Green to take first knock on a wicket that had not been covered and was damp from overnight rain, one question is why not have it rolled. The hosts openers Josh Hampson and Lewis Clarke facing the Mersey attack of Hassan Rashid and Irfan Naseri with the latter causing the batsmen lots of problems and the Green struggled to 39-4 with all 4 falling to Naseri and only Hampson having the ability and patience to handle such an effective opening bowling attack after the fall of Hampson for 46 that included several of his trademark shots only three more of the Greens batsmen reaching double figures James Holland-Burch, 10, Joe Butler, 21 and Lee Hallas, 17. The innings finally closed on 154 with extras contributing 34. The excessive appealing and vocal behaviour of the visitors was totally unacceptable in this wonderful game of ours and one can only hope that the umpires have the wherewithal to report this behaviour that led to two supporters leaving the ground. The visitors reply was led by Abbas Shah and Hunain Khan facing the Greens opening attack of James Holland -Burch and Jack Needham and as in the first innings the batsmen suffered in the face of two fine bowlers and with Holland-Burch taking the first 3 wickets the response fell to 41-5 and just as the Green should have tightened their grip on the game they sat back and allowed the visitors to reach 132 before the next wicket fell and even with two more wickets falling the Green were unable to shut the game out leaving the visitors victors by 2 wickets. James Holland-Burch was the Greens most successful bowler with 4 wickets . Todays matchball sponsor was Daniel O’Reilly with thanks. Next week the 1stXI are away to Winnington Park wickets pitched 11-30am.

​