Match Report: First XI
Burnley vs Todmorden
It was a day of celebrations at Haffner’s Turf Moor for the final day of the season. After clinching the League Title in dramatic fashion the weekend prior, the First Team finished the summer with a strong win to lead into the trophy presentation and end the season showing their dominance once again. Another 12 point victory meant they topped the League in the end by 16 points.
The visitors won the toss and elected to field first, with Burnley to bat. It was a steady start for the home team, reaching 20 in the first 7 overs, the top order however were dismissed thanks to tight bowling from the opposition. From 21-0, Burnley fell to 34-4 at the start of the seventeenth over with all top four batters back in the dressing room, only Liam Bedford managing double figures between them all. It was down to the Captain and Keeper combo of Ocki Erasmus and Ryan Canning to recover and rebuild the innings.
The pair managed to add 41 together to hold the innings together, not allowing Tod to make any extra inroads into the line-up for a while. The partnership was broken a few overs after drinks, when Ocki was dismissed for 20, valuable runs at the time. Whilst Ryan was still in, he needed support from the lower order to ensure the hosts could post a challenging total first up. It was down to Matt Roberts to start with, along with Ryan the pair added 35 together with Matt scoring 16.
Followed by Bharat, managing the biggest partnership of the innings for Burnley with himself and Ryan reaching 49 to see the new Champions up to 159-6, the pair had started to score heavily, with 28 runs from three overs before Baz was eventually out for 15, with only 8 deliveries left in the innings. It was in that flurry of scoring that Ryan reached his half century from 87 balls.
Adam Hodge joined Ryan, the pair added a handful of runs with the time they had left at the crease, pushing the Burnley score up to 166-7 from their allotted 50 overs. Ryan top scored with 70(100), managing over a third of the total runs that the hosts managed to total. Ryan passed 500 runs for the season in this knock, helping Burnley recover from a poor start in the game.
The second innings started well for Burnley, with Adam Hodge taking a wicket with his first ball at the start of the second over. That was followed up with Bharat taking his first wicket towards the end of the seventh over to have the opposition 29-2. Adam and Bharat proving to be a lethal combination at the top of the innings this season. Not only taking wickets but keeping runs tight as well.
Todmorden recovered slightly, the third wicket putting on 24 to try and settle an early wobble, just as Burnley suffered in their innings. It was cut short however thanks to Ocki taking his first wicket of the game, removing the other opener for 29 thanks to a low catch at slip from Callum Clarke. It was then time for Fergus Bailey to shine. Taking two wickets in two balls in his first over. The first victim was the opposition pro, who middled the ball in a defensive shot only for it to trickle back onto his stumps, he followed that up by catching an edge of the new batter to give Ryan a catch behind the stumps. Truly putting a dent in the Tod chase, as they fell to 66-5.
The visitors looked to rebuild once more, and they started to do so with a partnership of 21, but it was Fergus again doing the damage, as he drew another edge from the Tod batters which was taken well by Baz at slip. That was just after drinks at the start of the 27th over, and in the next over Fergus bowled he claimed another two dismissals in a double wicket maiden. Todmorden lost 3 wickets for only 3 runs to almost end any hope they had of chasing the target down. It was the wicket of former Burnley man Jhangir Liaqat that gave Fergus his first five wicket haul of the season.
Todmorden didn’t go out without a fight however, with the 9th wicket adding 44 runs to delay the trophy ceremony for Burnley. Eventually it was wrapped up quickly though, with only 3 balls separating the last two wickets, the first taken off the bowling of Bharat, and quite suitably it was the League winning Professional and Captain Ocki who wrapped the match up with the last wicket. Tod all out for 134 leaving them 33 short of the Burnley total. Adam took 1-21, whilst Baz and Ocki took 2-25 and 2-35 respectively, it was Fergus who claimed the best figures of the match, finishing with 7-2-12-5. Allowing the presentation and celebrations to start at Haffner’s Turf Moor.
Match Report: Second XI
Todmorden vs Burnley
A thrilling and tense game in Tod saw Burnley lose, but thankfully maintain their position in Division 1 for next season. With other games and other results meaning one thing or another, Ben and his team managed to eke out just enough bonus points to ensure they are still playing top division cricket next summer once again.
The hosts won the toss and inserted Burnley to bat first, and they made an early breakthrough at the start of the 3rd over to put Burnley on the back foot to begin with. It was down to Dan Pickup and Josh Holding to build the innings back up, with Burnley needing to set a total that will give them something strong to bowl at. Dan and Josh batted well together, with runs hard to come by, they kept a high value on their wicket and slowly built a platform to attack later on. It took 29 overs before Tod broke the partnership, which had reached 99 at that point. Dan being stumped trying to replicate a rooftop six from the delivery before, walking back for 49 to miss out on his second half century in three games.
Wickets fell in clumps after Dan was dismissed. With Burnley losing Dan and then Gareth Halley for a duck inside 6 balls. Josh was then dismissed for 44 after another couple of overs, followed by Ali Syed for a duck to see Burnley go from 103-1 to 120-5 with only 8 overs left in the innings.
Paul Mortimer was joined by Steve Brunt in the middle, and the two experienced players made sure to put Todmorden under pressure with big hitting and good running. It was Paul who did most of the damage towards the end of the game though, hitting two 4’s and clearing the rope with two 6’s to hit his highest score since he came back out of retirement this summer. Steve Brunt added good support, with himself and Paul putting on a stand of 47 before he was removed for 18. George Scott was out next ball to carry on the pattern of wickets falling in clumps.
Paul was then dismissed in the next over, the penultimate one of the innings, for a rapid 38 from only 28 balls. With it being up to Simon Edmonson and Oscar Halley in the last over to add as many runs as they could. Burnley eventually reached 177 from their 45 overs. Giving them a good chance to either win the game, or enough time to earn bonus points through taking wickets, which would be valuable towards the end of the game.
The hosts started strongly, Burnley unable to make any early inroads at all, the Todmorden openers looking settled and strong in their batting, without much threat coming from the bowling. Gareth was able to exert pressure with lots of tight lines and stopping Tod from scoring, but runs came easily from the other end. It wasn’t looking good for Burnley, with Littleborough cruising to an easy win, and Darwen looking strong, someone needed to do something special.
The match began to eventually turn in the 25th over, when Tod were 90 without loss. It started in Dan Pickups third over, when he dismissed one of the openers for 55. It was an inspired passage of play from Dan, who took 4 wickets in 23 deliveries to give the visitors some hope, two wickets were down to excellent catching by Ali Syed, pulling them back from 90-0 to 125-4.
With Littleborough winning, it came down to Burnley or Darwen to which team would be relegated, with Burnley needing to only match the points that Darwen gained. As Darwen slowly reached bonus points territory as they chased a result vs Nelson, it was down to Burnley to scratch out more wickets, and they did just that. The Captain himself standing up for his team to ensure survival, Ben the Bar taking the fifth wicket gave Burnley the extra bonus point they needed to match Darwen.
As the two games drew to a close, several supporters on the side watched on stream as Darwen were bowled out with only one bonus point claimed, meaning Burnley had managed to survive no matter what happened next. Bar managed to snag another victim, removing the main attacking threat from Tod to bring the possibility of a victory back for Burnley rather than just looking for bonus points, Ali Syed again taking another catch under pressure on the boundary. Todmorden now needed 8 from the last 10 balls.
It wasn’t to be a victory for Burnley though, despite Oscar Halley taking another wicket in the last over of the game, Todmorden won with 4 balls remaining but Burnley had importantly done enough to remain in the division. Finishing only two points ahead of Darwen thanks to the exploits with the ball in the second innings.
Dan Pickup was the star with ball and bat, taking match best figures of 8-1-34-4. Ben the Bar took two important wickets, doing his job as captain when needed with 2-48. Oscar took 1-47 whilst Gareth will feel hard done by to go for only 18 runs from his 12 overs, including 5 maidens, without taking a wicket. Burnley will rue the 29 wides conceded which may have cost them the chance to win the game and make the day a little comfier for those who made the trip to Todmorden.
Match Report: Third Xi
Enfield vs Burnley
The last match of the season for the third team was called off on the morning of the game on Saturday. A waterlogged pitch following the rain that fell that morning meant the last game was unable to be played, it follows the previous game for the third team that was abandoned due to rain. After such a delightful summer the season ends with a bit of a whimper for the third team, who finish in second place behind league winners Haslingden.