Owen Johnson Hammers 151 not out for 3rdXI

A virtuoso display of batting from the 3rdXI's Owen Johnson lit up the weekend's cricket for the Jets as he amassed a giant 151* not out. Not surprisingly, this resulted in a team win on an otherwise mixed weekend as the 1stXI too reached the half way mark with a victory but the hitherto unbeaten 2nd and 4thXI tasted defeat.

1stXI v Winnington Park

The 1stXI rounded out the first half of the season with a ninth win of the league campaign, comfortably defeating struggling Winnington Park at London Road. Missing injured spearhead Jamie Henderson, the tone was set by some excellent new-ball bowling from Manning Berry (2-14) and Toby Carson (2-31) as they quickly reduced the visitors to 35-4. Berry looked unplayable in his best spell of the year to date, cleaning up opener Barnes who shouldered arms to a nip-backer before uprooting Woolley’s off stump.

Alec Butcher offered some resistance from the top of the order, surviving a drop in the cordon off Berry to make a patient 35. But when he skied Dave Oldfield (5-16) for a caught and bowled the Park innings unravelled as the left-arm spinner collected back-to-back five-fors. Only three late sixes from the bat of tailender Speak dragged the score into three figures, 112 all-out then made to look well under par by a storming response from the Jets openers.

Jake Reynolds (56) and Saul Gould (28) flew out of the blocks in reply, racing to a fifty stand and beyond. The pair ran with good intent and the skipper supplemented this by backing himself to clear the infield with eight fours and a maximum on his way to an overdue first fifty of the summer. The stand was finally broken at 82 to trigger an untidy end to the innings but the points were comfortably banked despite four soft late wickets with the game over as a contest.

Brooklands v 2ndXI

The 2ndXI’s perfect record came to an abrupt end on the back pitch at Brooklands on a day where nothing went right for Alex Dyson’s young side. Invited to bat on a typically spicy second square, the Jets innings never got going and as a result the chasing pack have gained good ground in Div B East. The twos did manage to see out all of their 40-over allocation, but only the skipper’s 31 made any impact in a disappointing 125-9 that meant they would need to be perfect with the ball and in the field.

That wasn’t the case as an early burst from Andy Heath saw crucial catches go to ground in the cordon and the home batsmen took full advantage. It was a chastening day as the Jets managed just two wickets in response, seeing their lead at the top of the table massively reduced as a result. In what looks like a three horse race for two promotion spots, there is little margin for error and the batters get an immediate opportunity to bounce back to some form with a Twenty20 tie away to Langley on Tuesday. 

3rdXI v Glazebury

A phenomenal 151* (16x4, 1x6, 128b) from Owen Johnson lit up Jackson’s Edge as the 3rdXI put on a massive 256-2 at home to basement boys Glazebury. The visitors had got off to a perfect start having elected to field, dismissing Andy Welsby with the second ball of the afternoon. It was one way traffic from there though as the Jets piled on the runs in ruthless fashion, Johnson dominating century stands with Lyell Tweed (34) and Henry Woodall (58*) to go to his hundred and well beyond as he raised his bat for a third time in the final over.

The shellshocked visitors then offered little in reply as the bowlers were in equally impressive form. Chris Taylor (4-18), Pete Heath (3-29), and five deliveries from Ben Holbrook (1-2) was enough to quickly dispatch the visitors for 56 and a 200-run margin of victory. Taylor led the way with his best return of the campaign, setting up a critical game next weekend as leaders Mellor take on the Jets for the second time in the space of three weeks.

Cheadle v 4thXI

Like the 2ndXI, the fours lost their perfect record in 2022 as they had issues setting a competitive score away to Cheadle. The hosts made a mockery of their lowly league position by skittling the Jets for just 64 as eight batters failed to register double-figure scores. Scott Parkinson’s 19 from number eight in the order was as good as it got as the second innings took on an inevitable form with no runs on the board to try and protect.

Three early strikes from Sam Thompson (3-20) did mean that Cheadle didn’t have things all their own way, the Jets opener taking wickets with consecutive deliveries to reduce the opposition to 34-3. Subhan Shariff carried his bat for 21* though to comfortably navigate the chase as no further wickets fell in a chase that lasted just 13 overs such was the nature of the first innings score.