Manchester Cricket Club went down by 21 runs against Ashton in their final Greater Manchester Amateur League match of the season.
This game was far closer than the scoreline suggested, and Manchester almost pulled off a remarkable victory.
Ashton were put in to bat and built their innings steadily but were restrained by some tight fielding and bowling.
Only four bowlers were used and all did well. Pick off the bowlers was Dan Glicher with 2-35 off his 10 overs, but all performed well. David Cohen beat the bat on several occasions and was unlucky not to pick up more than the one wicket. Josh Oehley picked up three and Dan Franks two as Ashton made their way to 181 off their allotted overs.
Manchester started their reply steadily with Ray Tammam and Steve Glicher in good touch, but when the first wicket fell at 23 this only precipitated a massive collapse.
Few of the Manchester batsmen troubled the scorers, and at 46-8 humiliation looked on the cards. However, a ninth-wicket partnership of 114 between Oehley and Dan Franks kept Manchester in the game.
Oehley played a superb innings and finished on 61. When he was out in the final over Manchester were within just 21 runs of their target. Dan Franks ended on 23 and supported Oehley brilliantly.
Manchester finished fourth in the league this season - their best performance so far - and were in the hunt for a promotion place until a few weeks ago.
Congratulations to Huddy Lieberman for winning the player of the year. Congratulations also go to Josh Oehley and Dan Glicher as joint junior players of the year. The result was a dead heat. Their trophies were awarded by chairman of the GMACL during the tea interval.
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