HALE BARNS CRICKET CLUB

HALE BARNS CRICKET CLUB

 

Rain Ends Season Early For the 3rds - Hale Barns Cricket Club

Rain Ends Season Early For the 3rds

Hale Barns 3rd XI ended their season on a high with a solid batting display against Romiley before a torrential downpour forced the game to be abandoned.

Barns won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first as they looked to repeat their convincing victory in the reverse fixture earlier in the campaign.

With a number of absentees, Saeed Akhtar and Junaid Iqbal formed a new opening partnership and they stepped up to the challenge by comfortably negotiating the early overs.

The pair remained unscathed after 18 overs with the score on 78 until Akhtar was the first man to go for a well-made 40.

After a brief rain delay, Romiley made further inroads as they reduced the hosts to 95-3 from 25 overs, with Iqbal dismissed for 34.

Usman Tarar was watchful early on as he played out 11 dot balls before getting off the mark with a huge six, which was the cue for him to accelerate his scoring rate.

Another enforced break due to the weather came and went before Tarar stepped up a few gears as he struck a handful of lusty blows that sailed over the ropes.

The number three batsman hit six maximums on his way to 51 from 44 deliveries before attempting one big hit too many, mistiming a swipe to cow corner that was well caught in the deep with Barns on 142-5 with nine overs remaining.

Tarar passed the mantle onto Jack Wylie, who also took an over or two to get accustomed to the uneven wicket before targeting the boundary.

The stand-in captain quickly amassed 26 and dispatched the last ball of the game for four to move the total onto 174-5 from 37.1 overs before a relentless shower meant no further play was possible.

The 3rds end the season in sixth position – ahead of Bredbury St Marks – having beaten fifth-placed Brooklands and Romiley, who finished third, as well as draws in both encounters with runners-up Heaton Mersey and being one of four teams to avoid defeat against Stockport, holding the league winners in the home meeting in July.