Flintoff provides day to remember

FOUR youngsters from Glodwick Cricket Club were left starry-eyed after helping to launch the Andrew Flintoff Cricket Academy for 2009. 

James Holt (11), Tommy Jones (eight), Callum Grady (11) and Qasim Lohdi (nine) joined the Lancashire and England all-rounder at Old Trafford.

The quartet had a tour of the famous ground and later met Flintoff, who presented each of them with a signed shirt.

Gordon Whitehead, junior cricket co-ordinator at Glodwick, said: “The club was thrilled to be asked to nominate some of our young hopefuls to join Andrew to launch his academy.

“The lads loved every minute of the experience and haven’t stopped talking about it since.
“We’ve got lots of pictures of the experience, so we’ll be putting them up in our club house.”

The Academy, which is run in partnership with The Co-operative Food and Activate Sport to develop children’s cricketing skills, stages week-long courses at a variety of venues throughout the country under qualified ECB coaches.

For more information and to book visit www.andrewflintoffcricketacademy.co.uk/

Royton batsmen run riot
A HARD-HITTING batting display set up an impressive 69-run win for Royton over Austerlands in week three of the Oldham Cricket Development Group under-11s Indoor Cricket League.

Adam Gray led the way with 26, Harry Greaves hit 22 and Aaron Tesz made 19 as they amassed 316 for three from nine overs in the group ‘A’ encounter.

Austerlands’ opening pair put on 20 for the first wicket with Kirk Bennett, who was among the wickets, scoring 11 from nine balls.

However, they were unable to build on their solid start, finishing on 247 for four. Patrick Casey took two for six.

Glodwick were involved in a thriller for the second week running as they got the better of Shaw by three runs.

Jamie Symonds continued his fine form with the bat, compiling 17 to help the Warren Lane outfit to 250 for three.

Shaw were within 12 runs of their target with three overs left, but Glodwick would not be denied back-to-back wins. Matthew Ashfield top-scored with 14.

In group ‘B’, Luke Sharples, James Caffrey and Tom Jowle were the stars of the show for Saddleworth in their 54-run triumph over Woodhouses.

Middle-order pair Sharples and Caffrey smashed 40 in three overs — they scored 26 and 19 respectively — and Jowle weighed in with 27 from just 12 balls to take the Well-i-Hole boys up to 293.

Cameron Sharrocks, who took one of the two Saddleworth wickets to fall, struck 23 in reply, but Woodhouses were never in the hunt.

James Howard and Caffrey claimed two wickets each in restricting their opponents to 239 for seven.

Jake Manton hit 20 and Luke Rhodes made 17 as Uppermill accumulated 275 for three against Heyside.

Lewis Bardsley, with two for 16, was the best of the bowlers, while Corey Heaton also claimed a wicket.

Heyside were restricted to 225 for five in reply. Daniel Manton had three victims, with Mark Williams and Lewis Barlow grabbing one each.