After success last week against Kirkham in the National T20 Cup, Rossall’s 1st XI travelled to Manchester Grammar School for the next stages of the tournament. Rossall drew the hosts in the semi-final and elected to bowl first in cold conditions. On a small ground, they hoped to restrict their opponents and chase down the total.
Rossall bowled well in the first half of the innings and, despite not taking any early wickets, restricted MGS to 65 after 10 overs. Tom Singleton took a wicket with the first ball of the 11th over and kept the pressure on. However, some wayward bowling between overs 15 and 20 saw Manchester Grammar School accelerate towards the end, setting a sizable total of 173-2.
Rossall started the chase well with Matthew Wood hooking two sixes in the first over and Will Robinson (48) rotating the strike well. The runs continued to flow with Harry McAleer (30) and at the halfway point, Rossall were ahead of the required run rate. Will Robinson continued his fine form, hitting two huge sixes back over the bowlers head and McAleer cleared the boundary twice over midwicket.
With the score on 118-2, Rossall were still in with a chance, however, it was a wicket that batsmen were struggling to get in on and quick wickets made it difficult for the middle order to get going. Despite their best efforts, Rossall finished on 141-7 falling short by 32 runs.
The defeat to MGS meant that Rossall took on Merchant Taylor’s Crosby in the 3rd place play off. Captain Warwick won the toss again and this time elected to bat first. Merchant Taylor’s bowled well and put early pressure on the Rossall batsmen. At the end of the powerplay, Rossall had moved to 29-0. A wicket in both the 7th and 8th over did not help as Rossall looked to accelerate the run rate and by the end of the 10th over, they had struggled to 51-2.
The runs then started to flow more freely as opener Will Robinson (44) started to find the boundary and Kieran Hogarth (41* of 25 balls) accelerated. His innings contained 4 fours and a six as he rotated the strike well. Ed Robinson hit a quickfire 19 at the back end of the innings as they moved to 155-6 off their 20 overs.
Rossall’s opening bowlers looked to put early pressure and Kieran Hogarth’s wicket maiden in the 5th over meant that by the end of the powerplay, Merchant Taylor’s had made 29-1. Some big hitting in the middle overs meant that our opponents stayed ahead of the run rate and Rossall were under a lot of pressure. Matthew Wood took the key wicket of the opening batsman, Jack Carney. Some tight bowling and some regular wickets in the final 5 overs meant that Rossall were able to bowl Merchant Taylor’s out for 122 and win the third place play off by 33 runs.
