Oldham’s Twenty20 vision turns to reality

OLDHAM Cricket Club will be the venue for an innovative floodlit Twenty20 Competition.

The six-team tournament gets under way tomorrow week, Friday, September 12, and concludes on Sunday, September 21.

Teams will play in coloured clothing and white balls will be used.

The six teams involved are the host club Oldham, their local rivals Werneth, Royton and Crompton, Bamford Fieldhouse and a President’s XI made up of Saddleworth League players.

The cost of hiring the floodlights is £2,500 and has been met thanks to major support from Per-fit Windows, plus Oldham cricket president Harold Brierley, and Kevin Carey of Carey and Carey Hair Stylists, Oldham.

The floodlights will be provided by Oldham Sports Development, whose Emma Jenks was thanked for her support by Oldham CC officials.

The teams will be split into two groups of three, each club to play the other.

The winners of Group 1 will play the Group 2 runners-up in the semi-finals, while the Group 1 winners will take on the Group 2 runners-up.

The winning team will receive a trophy and there will be commemorative medals for the winners and runners-up.

Fixtures, all group matches to start at 8.30pm, are:

Friday, September 12 - Oldham v Werneth; Saturday, 13 - Crompton v Bamford; Monday, 15 - Royton v Crompton; Tuesday, 16 - Oldham v President’s X1; Wednesday, 17 - Royton v Bamford; Thursday, 18 - Werneth v President’s XI.

The semi-finals and finals will be played on Sunday, September 21, the first semi being held at 1pm, the second at 4pm, and the final at 8pm.

As part of the tournament, there will be a floodlit charity match on Friday, September 19 (8.30pm) to raise funds for Dr Kershaw’s Hospice.

This will feature an Oldham “Legends” X1 and Oldham Young Lions.

The Legends will be led by current first X1 skipper Mel Whittle and is expected to include Oldham stalwarts such as Stuart Meredith, Paul Jewitt, Gary Crossley, Howard Schofield, Howard Jump, Steve Percival, Darren Shadford and Nicky Hill.

The Lions team will be captained by first XI wicketkeeper Jason Maher and among those expected to take part are Paul Thompson, Chris McDonnell, Liam Garnett, Ryan Mayes and Craig Joy.