Week 2 Report: Aneeq and Ali Hassan star with the bat for a 10 point Saturday

Impressive knocks from Aneeq Hassan and Ali Hassan led the 1st and 2nd XIs to successful run chases respectively on Saturday.

At Radcliffe Road, Bradshaw elected to bat first and raced out of the blocks until professional Sandun Weekakkody was dismissed for 25 through a catch of the season contender from Mukhtar Nasir - tracking back from mid on towards cow corner, taking a two-handed diving catch facing the boundary - the score 62-2 after 10 overs.

Bradshaw mostly kept their momentum throughout the innings with talented opener Cian Dickinson being the mainstay. With 10 overs to go, the visitors were 199-5 and looking good to push towards 260+. However the key wicket of Dickinson for 97 - Ammar Baig's second wicket of the day in a 3 over spell - allowed Bury to claw the innings back. Bradshaw eventually were restricted to 246 all out with 1 ball to spare of their innings. Sam Nolan-Massey finished with 3/64, and as well as Baig, there was two wickets apiece for Mukhtar Nasir and Damario Goodman.

It was Baig and Aqib Zulfiqar who got the Bury run chase off to a good start - 79 runs on the board before the former was caught for 41 at the end of the 20th over. Zulfiqar passed 50 for the first time in a Bury shirt before he was given lbw despite a big stride forward. Aneeq Hassan then took over the scoring and, particularly after he passed 50, looked a class act, taking the game to the Bradshaw bowlers. When the third wicket fell, Bury required 64 from 51 deliveries. Hassan brought down the scoring rate with several lusty blows, and was cruelly denied a ton when he was caught on the boundary in the 49th over on 99 when only 3 more runs were required. A couple of dot balls led to a nervy finish, before Goodman drove the winning runs on the 4th delivery of the final over. Bury chasing 247 just one week after narrowly missing out on chasing 263. (Scorecard)

Over at Clifton, the 2nd XI were also invited to bowl first. Opening bowlers Lee Halliwell and Ali Hassan kept the scoring rate down early on. Patrick Potts had a productive spell, taking 3 top & middle order wickets, and with the ever-reliable captain Matt Metcalfe at the other end, Bury soon found themselves on the front foot with the home side 113-7.

Sam Winstanley and Chris Higgs led the fightback in the final 15 overs - their 8th wicket partnership worth 47 in 53 balls. Clifton recovered to 185-9 at the end of their 45 overs.

The Bury top 3 all reached double figures but didn't pass 20, and when they found themselves at 97-4 after 26 overs, the game was firmly in the balance.  However, an excellent display from Ali Hassan, well supported by Lee Halliwell, swung the game firmly into Bury's favour. Hassan's unbeaten 95 from 92 balls included 10 fours and 3 sixes, with Halliwell finishing 21* at the other end and Bury ended up comfortable winners in the 39th over with a 6 wicket victory to make it two wins from two. (Scorecard). 

Bury CC 3rd XI 131/10 – Roe Green CC 3rd XI 134-6

Bury CC’s 3rd XI travelled to Roe Green for their first away game of the 2022 season in the Sunday Competition Division 1. They were hoping to build on an opening week 5 wicket win at home against another Salford team, Monton. Runs were much harder to find this week as both sets of bowlers made it hard to score and this was helped by some great work in the field.

The visitors were asked to bat and returning captain Joe Mitchell and Scott Worswick opened up with Worswick looking to attack the rare bad ball and Mitchell being a little more circumspect. When Worswick (16) and Sam Leach went in quick succession, bowled by Surya, keeper Sajid Safi came to the crease. Safi’s usual buccaneering style was kept in check by Prill and Surya and it was Prill who bowled him as he tried to up the run rate. James Weston joined Mitchell (27) with the score on 65-3 and when the captain was bowled by Prill they had reached 93-4.

Weston (27) then started to move the scoring rate upwards and after losing a couple of cheap wickets he was joined by sister Charlotte and they added over twenty runs. Josh Bowen was well caught by O’Neill running backwards as the number 10 attempted to clear the field and the Bury innings ended on the final ball at 131 all out.

Surya (2-11) and Prill (3-23) were the pick of the home bowlers with Shepherd chipping in with 2 for 3 near the end. There was some great run-saving fielding by H Holmes who also took a catch.

Farrukh Ali Kayani and Uzair Fraz (1-28) opened the Bury bowling attack and Kayani was unlucky not to get a wicket getting through 9 overs for a parsimonious 18 runs.

The introduction of Bowen (4-22) and Charlotte Weston began to turn the screw as the batters were unable to push the score along and the wickets began to fall. Bowen had opener O’Neill (10) well caught by the captain and then removed Prill (16), top scorer Jacobs (34) and Hallows. Worswick also pitched in in taking the captain, Henderson for 18. At this point Mitchell badly injured a finger saving a boundary and had to leave the field with five overs left. The home side went on to win the game by four wickets with 17 balls to spare.

All in all this was a good game played in the right manner and Roe Green were the deserved winners. It was nice to see so many young players on both sides doing well with both bat and ball whilst also working hard in the field.

A special mention also goes to Rebekah Ashworth who made her senior debut for Bury and batted at number 11 and scored 2 not out and did some sterling work in the field. (Scorecard)

3rd XI Report & Images by Roger Mitchell