Oldham refuse to throw in the towel

FIGHTING BACK . . . Chris McDonnell is looking forward to the rest of the season despite Oldham’s recent setback.

15-point penalty fails to break club spirit

CRICKET: SOME may say they are the architects of their own downfall. Others would argue they were harshly dealt with by the Lake Garage CLL’s management committee.

Whatever your stance on Oldham and their 15-point penalty for playing overseas amateur Keelan Gossayn while he was not registered, it is hard not to feel sympathy for a club which has been swimming against the tide for many years.

Financial problems – admittedly, Oldham are not alone in having them – have been the root cause of their struggles.

But, having cleared their debts before the start of the current campaign and with new players attracted to the Pollards, Oldham were rightly optimistic about their prospects this season.

However, a series of kamikaze batting displays have squandered match-winning opportunities and the loss of 15 points sent them to the bottom of the table, some way adrift of Crompton and Ashton.

But Oldham’s spirit remains unbroken and skipper Chris McDonnell insists his side are up for the challenge as the season enters its final 12 fixtures.

“It’s not as though we are a bad side,” said McDonnell. “Without the 15-point deduction and throwing away games we should have won - such as at Heywood recently - we would have been around the 45-point mark, which would have been near Werneth.

“Our aim now is to win some matches and get above Crompton and Ashton.

“We are at Clifton on Saturday and that’s usually a good place to play cricket with plenty of runs made.

“And on Sunday we are at home to Royton, so I won’t need to say anything to get the players going and there will be some banter with Luke (Procter) and Ryan (Mayes) returning.

“Ryan worked for me a couple of years ago, so I’m sure there will be a few words exchanged!”

Oldham’s immediate problem is to get their Pollards ground in shape for tomorrow’s Twenty20 Cup quarter-final against Norden and Sunday’s derby match.

“Parts of it were like a mudbath last Friday following all the rain we had and it was bouncing down against the other night, so I don’t know it it will be fit for play this weekend,” said McDonnell.

Although a powerful Norden outfit will be favourites to win the Twenty20 tie, McDonnell does not want a toss of the coin or bowl-out to decide the fixture if the game is postponed for a second time tomorrow.

“The semi-finals are not for a while yet (September 4) so hopefully we can get the game played,” he said.