Strength in depth is key to Walkden success

3:00am Saturday 30th August 2008

SOME time ago I recall describing my three-match cricket weekend as being somewhat akin to “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”.

The same description could well have been used as a title for the games I saw last weekend, with “the Good” being moved to the middle of the three adjectives.

“The Bad” was my visit to Horwich to watch Egerton’s latest effort in a catalogue of disasters, which has seen them collapse from the position of being firm title favourites to finding themselves 13 points behind Walkden.

At Horwich, from Stuart Hornby’s first-baller onwards, they never once got themselves into a position where they could post a match-winning total.

Nor, after the tea-interval, did they ever threaten the Horwich batsmen, all two of them, with any sort of a comeback which might have made life difficult for Jadhav and James Reynard. I’ve thought for some time now that the Longworth Road side have been far too dependent on Sajith Fernando and Hornby, who between them have 100 wickets and over 1,700 runs to their credit. They just don’t have Walkden’s all-round depth, although with the two sides meeting today it’s still too early to write anyone off.

Tomorrow, Egerton travel to third-placed Westhoughton, and with Walkden due to meet bottom club Heaton, one way and another this weekend will be of vital importance to everyone concerned.

The “Good” in my film title weekend came at Astley Bridge, on Sunday, when Walkden squeezed home by 20 runs in a game that had their supporters on tenterhooks until Andy Kay snapped up his second catch of the day to complete the win. Taking account of the Walkden keeper’s invaluable 13 during a last-wicket stand of 20-odd with Luke Smith in a match won and lost by 20 runs, those supporters had a lot to thank Andy for. As indeed they did Mike Bennison and Jon Fearick early in Walkden’s innings.

They hit a joint 64 when the wicket was at it’s liveliest thanks to earlier falls of rain. Liyanage bowled extremely well, taking 5-46 from his unchanged spell from the pavilion end.

Possibly the worst piece of cricket of the day was the run-out of Dale Jones, when the ball was hit hard directly to the fielder. At that point Walkden could have done with a couple of overs of Jones at his belligerent best but in the end, of course, it didn’t matter. But it set me thinking about Walkden batsmen and run outs I checked, and in total they have suffered 16 over the course of the season to date, an inordinately large number shared between nine of their players, with only the captain and the pro missing from the list.

Perhaps seniority in the ranks really does count for something.

And so to the “Ugly” part of the weekend, which came with the Axford Trophy game at Tonge on Monday.

Nothing ugly about the cricket, the club’s organisation or, indeed, the result. The ugliness was provided by the weather, especially late in the game when proceedings were halted for rain, after which the light never really improved for the League’s batsmen.

All the more credit, then, to Alex Rodzoch and especially man-of-the-match Luke Perry, whose match-winning partnership was the highlight of the day. The game had it’s other star performers.

On another day Phil Dickinson’s 4-15 could have entitled him to a MOM award, while skipper Chris Barrow took four of the other wickets for 35. Jon Partington and Farooq Butt’s last-wicket stand of 35 gave their side a bit more to bowl at, and Atherton’s Paul Keenan played well at the top of the order.

But the day belonged to Perry. Twice the two teams have met this season, twice the League has come out on top, and twice Luke has been man-of-the-match. Steve Walsh’s side must be sick of the sight of him.

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