Week 1 Report: 1s kick off season with resounding Cup victory

The 2024 finally got underway at the weekend for our 1st XI, 15 days after initially scheduled.

After Saturday’s league game with Uppermill was abandoned just before the scheduled start time due to the overnight rain, it was cup action away at Darcy Lever on Sunday that got the campaign underway.

New captain & professional Riley Vernon won the toss and chose to bat, and despite one early wicket going down, Bury were in control of the innings from start to finish. Joe Mitchell was the mainstay of the innings for a well-built 71, and he had sizeable partnerships with Alex Breckin (41) and Vernon (47). A couple of late blows from debutant Ash Gorsi (25*) saw Bury upto 252-7 from the 45 overs.
Spin bowler Mohammed Usman was given the new ball for the first over of the second innings, which was a move that paid off with a wicket with just the third ball. Darcy Lever rebuilt somewhat after a a couple more wickets to get to 100-3, but after Gorsi removed Callum Waring, wickets began to tumble more quickly. Usman and Gorsi would go on to take 3 wickets apiece, with 2 for Breckin and 1 each for Vernon and Patrick Potts, whose solitary over yielded the wicket of the set home captain Chris Fenn (60). Darcy Lever were all out for 130, with Bury progressing to R2 of the Championship Cup with a comfortable 122 runs.

The 2nd XI endured a much tougher start to the season, with a league & cup double header against Royton. Both days saw comfortable wins for the opposition.

Photos courteousy of Roger Mitchell & Craig Aspey.