Heaton Mersey Cricket Club

The Scorebooks Reveal…

Written by Bob Moorhouse
Sunday, 11 April 2010
Twenty-five years ago Heaton Mersey opened their 1985 season with an away fixture at Cheadle Hulme and the class of 2010 do likewise this coming weekend. An interesting coincidence or much more? Let’s hope for history to repeat itself, not only on Saturday but through the next couple of seasons when Mersey followed a runners-up spot in 1985 with The Championship in 1986. With eager anticipation, under the continued leadership of Keith Shawcross, Mersey took the field with close season signings Colin Norbury and wrist spinner Geoff Greenop. Hopes for the new campaign were high as young left armer Dave Lucas and Ian Gemmell opened the attack as they had done the previous September. Disappointed to be left out of the team for the opening fixture were established bowlers Tony Bates and Colin Farrow but with slow leftie Stan Davies, the current skipper’s granddad, and Geoff Greenop to follow the opening salvo, the Mersey attack looked potent. And so it was to prove as Ian Gemmell first trapped Ian Simpson lbw before removing his former Minor Counties’ colleague Neil O’Brien for a duck. The new spin twins then got to work bowling forty one overs between them. Stan recorded figures of 3-38 in twenty one overs while debutant Greenop confused one of the top batting line-ups in the league to return 4-44. Reigning champions, Cheadle Hulme limped to a miserable 129-9 in their 55 overs with only Cumberland’s Malcolm Woods (58) and two other batsmen reaching double figures. After tea, arguably the best opening pair in the league, Mike Upton and Hash Maitra, strode to the crease. Hash had scored 1045 runs the previous season, his first in the County League and Mike had been one of the league’s leading batsmen since its inception in 1975. An opening partnership of 55 was no surprise before Hash was bowled by young off-spinner Steve Merricks who was enjoying a rather better spell than the previous August when he had gone for 51 in four overs of mayhem. On that day Mersey had chased down 238 with more than 12 overs to spare; Bob Moorhouse (93) and Matt Cheetham (73) obviously 25 years ahead of 20/20 cricket! Unfortunately Matt was to fall, caught Merricks bowled Woods for only one on this occasion before current chairman, Colin Norbury joined Mike Upton at the crease. How he got to the wicket before the afore-mentioned Bob Moorhouse only the skipper would know but as he was to do many times again Sporting Sam, as he affectionately became known, took Mersey to a seven wicket win with two overs to spare. For the record Mike Upton fell to Woods, bowled for 46 while Colin finished unbeaten on 27 alongside Bob Moorhouse (10*). The skipper was smiling for it was indeed an impressive start to the season against a side who had won the league six times in the previous eight years. With quality players on the twos competition for places was going to be keen and looking forward in that scorebook some interesting names were to make their mark…a re-vitalised Steve Harris and future Berkshire skipper, Gary Loveday being just two of them. Perhaps worth a special mention is Hash Maitra, recently heard to say that April was too early to start playing cricket. The following weekend Mersey were away again, at Alderley Edge - Hash scored a sensational 151 from only 141 balls before being run out. The date - April 27th! Set as favorite Bookmark Hits: 1081 Comments (0) Write comment Name Comment smaller \| bigger