In-form batsmen plan final assault

WOODHOUSES skipper Mike Cassidy believes his batsmen have come good at just the right time for Sunday’s Walkden Cup final against Denton West.

Josh Tolley has particularly caught the eye of late, passing 1,000 runs for the season in all competitions and posting seven half-centuries in his last eight innings.

And teenager Nick Doyle (16) has been scoring runs for fun, including a century in the Lancashire Cup against Vernon Carus.

Cassidy has had few worries over Woodhouses’ bowling attack this season, but now the runs are flowing, too, he believes anything is possible.

“Hopefully the batsmen’s form has arrived at an opportune moment for us,” he said.

“Josh has been in magnificent form. He is a massive talent and the runs he scores on a regular basis demonstrate it.”

Woodhouses boast a full-strength squad for Sunday, and they enjoy home advantage for the clash.

Should they win, it will be the third time the club has won the competition - but the first on home soil.

Manzoor Ellahi returns to the fold following physio treatment on his back injury.

“It is obviously a big boost to have Manzoor fit and ready to go - he is a key player,” said Cassidy.

“Everyone is keen to play a part on Sunday because it’s a big occasion in front of our own fans.

“We’ve won the Walkden Cup a couple of times, but to do so our own ground would be special.”

Cassidy believes Denton West start the final as slight favourites.

He said: “When we played them in the league earlier this year we had a full-strength side and got absolutely hammered.

“But it depends how you look at it. We also got hammered by Glossop in the league with our best team out there, but we managed to reverse it when we played them in the cup.

“Hopefully, that is a good omen. Maybe we can prove a point again by performing better in this cup tie.

“Denton West are a couple of points ahead of us in the league so I suppose if anyone goes into the match as favourites they do, but it’s a very tough one to predict.

“They have had a few hiccups recently and the runs haven’t always been flowing.

“We can only concentrate on ourselves.

“I feel we are in the middle of a good run of form in the league at the moment, which I hope can be repeated on Sunday.”