Uppermill finally claim a thriller

Photo: PICTURES by TIM BRADLEY

Uppermill’s players celebrate after claiming Tanner Cup glory.

CRICKET:

After 180 overs of wonderful entertainment only four runs separated two sides who had given everything.

The replay was just as good as the tied first match two weeks ago.

The balance of power in the early evening sunshine at Leefields swung one way then the other before Uppermill claimed victory after the last ball.

Danny Anchor opening for Moorside in the absence of Francis Sutherland, almost single-handedly carried his team over the line with a magnificent 107. The man of the match award was a straightforward decision.

Paul Thompson, the rock at the top of Uppermill’s order and equally admired, was on course for a century through a mixture of fine shot-making and persistence. But unlike Anchor he had valuable support in fellow opener Andrew McVeigh (26) and Peter Roberts (29).

Uppermill’s middle order also weighed in with vital runs. James Baron struck the ball cleanly for 39 and wicketkeeper-batsman Alex Griffiths made 24. The pair lifted the hosts’ spirits after they had stuttered to 153 for five.

Dismissed for 226 in the last over of their innings, it was a job well done by Uppermill, in a match that started only thanks to the effort of Dave Thomas, who had worked on the rain-sodden outfield from 6.30am.

After a dozen overs of the Moorside reply, the home team was staring down the barrel of a gun.

The visitors had raced to 60 without loss, with Anchor helping himself to some wayward bowling.

Uppermill skipper Matt Taylor had used five different options before he made the breakthrough himself, trapping Richard Baines in front for 11.

Grobler chipped a catch to Darren Shadford for 11 with the score on 104 and even when Kingston was bowled by Baron for 13, nine runs short of the 150-mark, Taylor’s men still appeared to have it all to do.

The wicket of Mostert, who played on to Baron for 14, gave Uppermill the belief that they could do it.

Then came the one they wanted. Anchor, who brought up his ton in the 36th over, had his middle stump pushed back by Shadford. Crouched over his bat, it took him a few moments to raise a walk back to the clubhouse.

Pete Broadhurst and Dave Walters departed in the space of three balls — the former was the third of Baron’s victims in figures of three for 35 from nine overs. By the start of the last over, Moorside needed 14 runs with one wicket left.

Craig Taylor plundered a four off Shadford. Desperate running from Taylor and Craig Monks got it down to five to win and four to tie off the last ball.

Shadford bowled it just wide enough that Taylor could not get a bat on it. Taylor, the first Uppermill skipper to lift the Tanner Cup since 1982, said: “We never thought it was over even when they were

100-odd for two.

“Their top five are as good as any in the league apart from Bamford Fieldhouse, but we knew if we stayed in the game and kept taking wickets we wouldn’t be far away.

“As I stressed in the build-up it was all about holding your nerve in the big moments and that’s what we did.”