Old Glossop 2nd XI vs Hollingworth (Home, Saturday 15th May) by Andy King
May is usually a month where the cricket wickets benefit from the sunshine and dry weather, but not this year.
The incessant rain has meant for trying conditions and abandoned fixtures across the DCCL, and OGCC 2s have seen similar in their last three fixtures.
At home vs Hollingworth the weekend before last, the conditions weren't ideal for cricket and, being honest, at times were borderline playable but the willingness of both teams to brave the elements together with an equally stoic umpire meant that play was possible as OG looked to bounce back from their last outing defeat at the hands of Newton.
Batting first it was a case of patience on the day and in a total of 172, it was the middle order who showed that necessary patience after an early scare which saw OG stumble to 25 for 3.
Andy Dwyer (32), Mark Allen (30) and Ste Allcock (42) held the innings together before a 14 not out cameo from Tom Lane set the visitors 173 to win from their 40 overs.
With rain still in the air, Hollingworth set about their run chase with eagerness and intent and Halliday in particular played with aggression before being caught by Mal off Andy Smith.
His 46 was the mainstay of the Hollingworth reply but, with positive contributions from the rest, it became a nervy affair with the home skipper, Robbie Barrow, using all bowling options at his disposal in search of the win.
Andy Smith picked up three with Conor two, Robbie one and Mal one with the visitors eventually falling just five runs short of their target, much to the relief of all with an OG affiliation.
A wet day but also a deserved victory for OG.
For his crucial 42 with the bat plus two catches, the MOM goes to Ste Allcock.
Old Glossop 2nd XI vs Newton (Away, Hawke Cup, Sunday 16th May)
The next day saw more rain as OG headed to Newton for the previously postponed Hawke Trophy match.
In fairness the conditions weren't all that bad at Newton although it was still a toss where you expected to bat first if you lost the toss which we did, and therefore we did....bat first that is.
A tricky wicket wasn't negotiated too well in truth by the OG players and a final total of 109 ao would probably be viewed on the Play Cricket App with the assumption that "it must have been a nightmare to bat on" given the weather.
In truth it was tricky but not a 109 ao track for sure so, at the turnaround, the OG players knew they had a tough task to defend that total but they were up for it and knew they needed to bowl and field well to progress to the next round.
A great effort in the field followed with lots of aggressive, tight bowling and fielding and, at one point, the hosts were reeling at 30 for 3 and then 40 for 4.
King and Allcock bowled miserly opening spells and when the dangerous Cragg (see previous league fixture vs Newton) was removed for a duck, the unlikely victory was looking achievable.
On days like these it sometimes takes a batsman to chance his arm and hit out and that's what Jack Mercer for Newton did with some lusty blows on the way to his match winning 56.
Ultimately Mercer took the home team to victory in conjunction with the stubborn 25 no from Kent and OG were defeated.
Clearly a valiant effort with the ball from OG with King, Allcock and young Tom Lane all claiming victims but this game was lost in the first half with 109 nowhere near enough runs to defend in the circumstances.
The ground fielding was predominantly tidy though with a good team spirit evident throughout.
Earlier in the day, the innings saw Ethan Lumb given the chance to open the batting with OG stalwart Jonny Wright and he displayed some decent aggressive shots mixed with a fairly solid defence, for his 13.
The rest of the OG card wasn't much to write home about....so I won't.
Difficult to lose twice to Newton in the space of a few weeks, especially when both defeats were avoidable with more application.
MOM isn't easy for this one as no one achieved the usually accepted benchmark of 30 runs and/or 3 wickets so no award for this particular fixture.
The final fixture of this triple match report saw OG travel to near neighbours and local rivals, Dinting, keenly anticipating a fiery Derby fixture.
Unfortunately no play was possible much to the frustrations of the OG lads who were eyeing up a 20 point rout.
OG remain in the newly created play off positions in Div 3 and are praying for better weather in the next few weeks.
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