It was a ding-dong battle in the blustery gloom of Heywood on Saturday but Clifton firsts showed the depth of reserves the club has been developing over the past year or two.

Professional Hendro Puchert bowled unchanged from the pavilion end as Heywood made a steady enough start to reach the 50 mark.

But after Greg Jennings bowled dangerman Bobby Cross, Puchert bowled four successive wicket maidens as the hosts crumbled to 74-7.

That became 90-9 as Matt Wright grabbed a couple, but the last pair swung the game back a little more in Heywood’s favour as they took the score to 141 without being separated.

Andy Griffiths then smashed three fours in the first nine balls of the reply before going back to a ball that seemed to nip back and clip his off stump.

Puchert and a very comfortable looking Adam Holt then picked off the runs at will and put the side in a seemingly unbeatable position with a 50 partnership before 17-year-old Holt played a lazy looking shot and was caught at slip for an excellent 32.

Puchert then gave the cover fielder some simple catching practice as the spinners took a stranglehold on the game, and with Chris Lord, Darren King and Ollie Dunn all going cheaply, the home side was suddenly in total charge at 90-6.

However, Greg Jennings has shown some form with the bat this season, and once 16-year-old Dean Morris got in on a tester of a wicket, the two started to accumulate and find the gaps. Gradually they chipped away and a good game of cricket ended in a six wicket win with two overs to spare.

Ian Morris suffered one of the rarer experiences that anyone can have in cricket when he scored a century and ended up on the losing side for Clifton seconds.

The wicket was in stark contrast to that at Heywood, described by the skipper as ‘like concrete’.

When Mike Hay added his second half century of the season to help post a total of 230, the side should have had a defendable total despite the favourable batting conditions.

However, it was not to be as the bowling, fielding and catching was a long way short of the usual Clifton standard and the visitors knocked off the runs with five balls to spare.

Clifton thirds just missed out from making it a full house on Sunday as the firsts and seconds both had comfortable wins in their respective cup competitions against local rivals Monton & Weaste.

Hendro Puchert held the reply together with a calm half-century after Monton and Weaste had posted 168 with wickets shared; the innings coming to a close thanks to Chris Lord’s stunning catch on the boundary.

Andy Griffiths contributed his usual high-boundary tariff in his 44 as the firsts ran out four wicket winners.

Chris Thorpe (91) was agonisingly close to a second career century as the seconds dispatched Monton & Weaste at Manchester Road.

Thorpe and Geoff Griffiths (45) put on 75 for the first wicket before the wickets tumbled and the innings closed on 198.

Rob Meredith then bowled his spell with his usual meanness and picked up three wickets, as did Andy Lord, but even so, the visitors came pretty close, finishing just 10 short.

It was a ding-dong affair at Greenmount where nine juniors took the stage along with Mark Unwin and Steve Eccles for Clifton 3rd XI.

The skipper’s plea to his youngsters, to make sure they batted for the full allotted overs was answered as 161-6 was posted with Andy Tocher, scoring a mature 41.

The Greenmount reply swung this way and that with Mark Unwin grabbing 4-31, but in a frantic last over, the hosts grabbed a one-wicket win with a ball to spare.

Tweet