All three senior sides pick up points in week 6

Each of our senior sides added to their league tallies this weekend, with the 2^nd XI returning to winning ways and the 1^st XI and 3^rd XIs picking up losing bonus points.

The 1^st XI were in action away at Heywood, who had started the season strongly, with captain and professional Martin Walters and Bobby Cross leading the way with almost 600 runs between them in the opening 5 games. However, it took just one delivery for Mohammed Majid to get the wicket of Walters, he was caught by the captain Garner at slip with the first ball of the afternoon. Cross and Joe Humphreys led the recovery, with a second wicket partnership of 118 before Damario Goodman had Cross trapped lbw for 55. Humphreys was caught on 62 a few overs later, and Heywood’s momentum stalled, mainly due to regular wickets falling, with Bury restricting the home side to 195-8 from their 50 overs. Sam Nolan-Massey and Damario Goodman took 2 wickets apiece.

None of Bury’s opening 5 partnerships could pass 24 as they found themselves at 84-5 a couple of overs after drinks. Dom Morris remained at the crease, and was supported by Damario Goodman (17) until he was caught by an outstanding catch by Sean Burill. Bury then found themselves nine down for 155. Morris (68*) and Garner (10*) pushed the score upto 182/9 by the end of the innings to take home a losing bonus point. (Scorecard)

At Radcliffe Road, the 2^nd XI took on Stand for the second time in 7 days after knocking them out of the 2^nd XI Premier Cup last Sunday. Bury batted first and it was Zafri Zafardeen (73) and Ghalib Sarosh (75) who shone with a 144 second wicket partnership, taking the score to 150-2 after 30 overs. A middle order collapse followed, before some late hitting from Ali Ammar (34 from 23 balls) pushed the Bury total above 200 and eventually to 224 all out in the 45^th and final over. Luke Solis took 7 wickets for the visitors in his 14 overs.

Stand’s response never quite had the momentum needed to threaten a chase, slipping to 121-7, with 3 wickets each for Matt Metcalfe and Farrukh Ali. Stuart Catterall’s late counter attack brought Stand past the 75% mark in the final over, with his 52* from 43, as the visitors ended their innings on 173-7. (Scorecard)

On Sunday, Deane & Derby were the visitors to Bury for a 3^rd XI league game. The visitors were looking very strong with the bat, with a second wicket partnership of 147 between Mohammed Rahman Ali and Said Mahi (45). However, after the wicket of Ali for 104, Bury dragged themselves back into the game, restricting Deane & Derby to 194-7 from their 40 overs, having been 163-1 with 8 overs to go.

However, for the second league game in a row, Bury were 3 down very quickly at 9-3 after 5 overs. The middle order had more success, Sajad Safi top scoring with 41, however after he fell Bury were soon 99-7 with 11 overs to go and chances of victory looking to have passed by. Shoaib Khalid (26), on debut, and Aaron Davies put on 58 for the 8^th wicket in 10 overs – Davies with an unbeaten 33 from 28 balls. That partnership pushed Bury past the 75% mark, finishing their 40 overs on 157-8 to take one point from the game. (Scorecard)