Rossall 1st XI Cricket Team vs Kirkham Grammar School

The 1st XI took on Kirkham in the National Twenty20 cup fixture on 28th April 2021 at Kirkham & Wesham CC. 

Rossall won the toss and elected to bat first under cloud cover and a little bit of rain in the air. Kirkham had the best of the early stages when the opening bowler bowled Matthew Wood (6) in the fourth over. At the end of the powerplay, Rossall had made their way to 24-1. The seventh over saw 20 runs come off it and Rossall continued to accelerate after that. 

Will Robinson (20) and Harry Gordon (19) were steady in the middle overs as they moved to 67-3 at the halfway point. The damage was far from done as Harry McAleer went on the offensive against the Kirkham bowlers. His 53* off 40 balls contained 7 fours and a towering six that soared out of the ground. He was ably supported by skipper Joey Warwick’s quickfire 22. At the end of their 20 overs, Rossall had made a pleasing total of 157-4.

Kirkham started well in reply and were up with the required run rate throughout the powerplay. Some steady batting as well as some wayward bowled meant that they found themselves 38-0 at the end of the sixth over. Another two high scoring overs meant that Rossall desperately needed a breakthrough to fight back. Ed Robinson (1-29) broke the opening partnership in his third over with the score on 59 and Matthew Wood (1-24) took a wicket with the last ball of the 10th over, meaning Kirkham were 65-2 at the midway point.

A run out in the 12th over gave Rossall an opening and Joey Warwick (5-2) seized this opportunity. In his first over, he took three wickets. He clean bowled one, saw a second caught behind and took a good return catch for the third. Tim Woodman (2-25) alternated with Warwick for the final 4 wickets with both Ed Robinson and Thierry Bilby taking good catches in the deep. Kirkham were eventually dismissed for 89 meaning that Rossall won by 68 runs.