Titchard’s faith rewarded at Hale Barns

The victory owed much to aggressive field placing from skipper Steve Titchard and the faith he showed in his two youngest bowlers.

The game was drifting into a tedious draw until Grappers’ 17-year-old off-spinner Sam Baxter dismissed Australian Connolly for 33 runs as Hale Barns chased the 188 for 8 that had been compiled with help from visiting opener Ian Barnes’ 60 off 73 balls.

The game then gathered momentum with wickets falling and plenty of runs being scored.

At 132 for 6 with 13 overs left and the Hale Barnes batsmen beginning to dominate, an unlikely defeat looked on the cards but Titchard’s tactics were rewarded when Baxter and Andy Tetlow dismissed the last four batsmen for 27 runs.

Baxter finished with career-best first team figures of 5 for 63 while Andy Tetlow bagged 3 for 33.

Grappenhall’s seconds won by four wickets against Cheadle Hulme’s second team.

In the chase of Cheadle’s 224 for 6, Grappers were rocked by the early loss of Andy Wright and Roylance but Steve Hartley and Nick Sharp responded with a fine partnership of 86.

With 102 still needed off 17 overs, veteran Mike Holden, 40, and Matt Titchard, 27 not out, took the team to the brink of victory.

Sam Guest’s timely 11 allowed Titchard to hit the winning runs with only two balls remaining.