Langley Win Tense Encounter

Langley 2nd xi travelled to Poynton needing a 25 point victory to stand any chance of avoiding relegation.

Poynton elected to bat and got off to a solid start, the score reached 25 when the hosts lost 3 quick wickets as David Frame bowled both Gould 14 and Bowden 0, Callum Love dismissed Hadfield 10 in the same manner.

D. Johnson and S. Warner steadied the ship taking the score to 71. The Innings then slowly unravelled, veteran Tim Moore had S. Warner 13 caught at point by Ben Simnet.

Skipper Matt Barber bowled Dan Mullaney 9, Love return and had Damian Mullaney 6 caught behind, Barber had D.Johnson 32 caught at mid wicket and then pinned N. Warner 0 LBW. Love then finished off the tail bowling L. Johnson 0 and Owen 5 as Poynton were all out for 109.

For Langley Love 4-31 off 12 overs, Barber 3-11 off 8 overs, Frame 2-16 off 12 overs and Moore 1-26 off 8 overs all bowled well. In the field Dan Jones performed with great credit making several fine stops.

In reply Langley lost wickets at a consistant rate in the face of some accurate bowling.

The evergreen Rick Laughton 10 miscued to mid off, Dave Gregory 4 was bowled, Rick Hughes 4 mistimed a pull shot, Simnet 11 was bowled as Langley struggled to 35-4.

The Langley batsman were finding life tough Cameron Gold 6 was bowled,all rounder Tim Moore 9 guided a catch to slip, Barber 9 and Love 7 were both bowled as the score limped to 90-8.

In the middle of all the mellay Tom Potts was batting steadily, he was joined by Frame and the duo, saw off the returning opening bowlers and scampered every run eventually reaching their target when Frame pulled a full toss to the boundary. Potts 25 no and Frame 11no both showed great composure.

Well done to both sides, a superb match played in a fantastic spirit.

After securing the victory. Langley had a nervous wait but left distraught when news filtered through that Wilmslow had won leaving both teams on 272 points. With Langley relegated as Wilmslow had won more matches.

A great second half of the season for Langley was all in vein as their task was just to big. Nevertheless the team can be proud at their efforts in the in the later stages of the season and will rye the awful start they had. Well done to Matt Barber for taking the realm and almost pulling off a great escape.