Royton’s batsmen lay foundations for victory

Emily Ball: Mixing it with the boys.

ROYTON continued their impressive form in the Oldham Cricket Development Group Indoor League as their batsman once again topped the 300 mark in their under-11s Group A fixture against Glodwick at Oldham Sports Centre.

Batting first, Royton amassed 303 for three thanks to William Sandiford-Mitchell (26), ably supported by Aaron Tesz (16) and Jack Snape (15).

Josh Brown, Jamie Simpson and Kasim Lohdi all picked up one wicket for Glodwick but they never got going in reply, mainly due to excellent bowling from Patrick Casey who took three wickets for one run as Royton eased home by 88 runs.

Shaw kept up the pressure by defeating Moorside by 33 runs. Shaw elected to bowl first and there were wickets for Ellis Forshaw (2-10), Matthew Gibson (2-24) and Jacob Clark (1-8) as Moorside made 257 for 5 from their nine overs.

All the Shaw batsman made it into double figures, Gibson and Forshaw following up their excellent bowling performance by scoring 21 and 20, respectively.

It was first against second in Group B as Saddleworth overcame Uppermill by 55 runs, thanks mainly to an unblemished batting performance.

Uppermill took first knock and Lewis Barlow top scored with 17 as Tom Jowle (2-14) and James Howard (2-9) were among the wickets.

In reply, no Uppermill bowler was able to get the better of Saddleworth’s batting line-up as the totalled 285 without loss, William Wilson top scoring with 20.

Delph kept in touch as they defeated Woodhouses by 50 runs.

In batting first, Delph made 246 for two thanks to Daniel Jones (16) and Nathan Jones (11).

In reply, some tremendous Delph bowling and fielding restricted Woodhouses to 96.

Josh Lees made 13 as Daniel Jones, Nathan Jones and Bradley Cruse all took three wickets each.



Emily is having a ball

EMILY BALL is proving more than a match for the boys when it comes to cricket.

The 10-year-old, from Woodhouses, has been selected for the under-11s Oldham District squad for the 2009 season.

Believed to be the first girl to be chosen at the youngest age level, Emily was one of 15 players who caught the eye of the coaches.

Dad, Graham, said: “Emily just enjoys playing any sport — she even won a table tennis competition recently.

“She got into cricket after playing in a tournament at school. It really whetted her appetite.

“Her brother, Daniel, plays for Woodhouses under-13s, so we decided to go down and give it a go.”

Emily, who was nominated for the District squad by her club, is also in contention for a call-up to the Lancashire under-11s side.

Graham went on: “She had two trials at Old Trafford, which was a great experience.

“The facilities are something else, but the competition was tough and we’re just waiting to hear how she’s got on.”

The District squad are preparing for the summer’s schedule, which comprises of a minimum of six fixtures, with winter net sessions at Saddleworth School.

They will be play home and away games against Bury, Rochdale and Tameside.