WITH three spinners in the team, one being of Indian origin who in his words said the pitch resembled a typical Mumbai wicket, the Leigh Thirds captain, on winning the toss, asked the Newton side to bat.

But, before the spinners could begin to operate the quicker bowlers were given their chance to show their talents.

Openers Ross Shepherd and Steven Young did well in holding the Newton batsmen to a rate of two per over for the first ten with Young picking up a wicket in his sixth and generally making the Newton batsmen hop about.

After Shepherd had bowled his 5 overs for just 6 runs he was replaced by Mattie McKiernan who bowled well but without success on this occasion. Umesh Patel replaced Young and immediately got the ball to spin and bounce causing problems for the Newton batsmen.

Alex Roussak replaced McKiernan and in tandem with Patel they took five wickets in all which broke down the Newton middle order. Steven Young was brought back on an and he took two more wickets in one over leaving Newton on 144 for 9.

In the next over an extraordinary piece of fielding resulted in the run out of the last batsman. McKiernan chased the ball to the boundary and relayed a throw to Paul Blackburn who in turn threw the ball to Roussak who whipped of the bails as Newton attempted a fourth run. Newton were all out for 147.

Leigh were quietly confident of overtaking the Newton score but once again got off to a poor start in losing three quick wickets for just twenty four runs.

Blackburn and Shepherd held things together for a while until Blackburn was bowled with the score on 42. Michael Eccles, who has hit a good run of form, once again showed a lot of application and put on 36 before he was out trying to raise the pace.

At 102 for 6 with twelve overs left Leigh were still best placed to take the win as Umesh Patel and Matthew Schleiner carried the score to 121 before Patel was out. Pete Taylor joined Schleiner and started to pick off the runs in singles until Taylor was adjudged lbw.

There followed a period of play which unfolded a drama within a drama. The last three Leigh batsmen, with an average age of 12, showed just the kind of approach required. Matthew Schleiner was in total control pushing along the score in singles until he was caught bringing Mattie McKiernan to the middle. The last wicket partnership between Michael Waywell and McKiernan was marvellous to watch. They pushed the score steadily along and never really looked in trouble, McKiernan, playing the anchor role, allowed Waywell to take on the bowlers but with just five runs needed to win the partnership ended as McKiernan was run out.

In the dressing room after the match the disappointment shown by these youngsters proved just what the result meant to them, they were devastated. They had come so close to achieving their personal goals by nearly winning the match for themselves, their team mates and their club. The maturity they showed in the heat of the game was way beyond their years and surely bodes well for the future of Leigh Cricket Club.