Good teams need more than talent to get them where they want to be. They have to ‘win ugly’  when things aren’t working and also be able to pull through when facing disaster. Alex Barber’s men showed both winners’ facets in 24 hours over the weekend.  They won by three wickets at Disley on Saturday(July 18) on a pitch that didn’t allow one batsman on either side to reach 30. And, the next day, four of our first five were back in the pavilion for a mere 29 and yet, largely thanks to one of Rick Holt’s finest innings and the intensity of our out cricket,  we recovered to triumph by 93 runs at Lymm. The Disley win, avenging our only Meller Braggins Cheshire League defeat, kept us at the head of Division 3, four points clear of Woodford and, more importantly, opened a 34 point gap between us and third placed Disley. And Sunday’s success against Division 2 side Lymm puts us in the last four of the Lovelane Cheshire Shield. The skipper wasn’t complaining too much about the Disley track….. The paceman, aided by three Jonny Holt catches behind the wicket, proved lethal on it, returning the best bowling figures of the season – 7-27 in 16.4 overs. They could have been better… After his 13th over, they were 6-12, but desperate tailender Hare(16) took the long handle to him,  raising the total from a disastrous 55-8 to 73. He was one of only three to reach double figures, top scorer Baker (25) being last to go in the 40th over with Disley all out for 85. Ben Allcock, stand-in opener for Rick Holt, then rattled up nine off the first over, but it was no promise of things to come. He soon went for 16 and even Andy Bashford, for all his experience and desire to attack, found it hard to dominate as he likes. Tommy Rolph(2) struggled for more than half an hour before being bowled. Only when Bash and Ned Kelly came together at 34-2 did we threaten to win decisively. When Bashford (20) left at 52, the classy Kelly looked briefly as if were playing on another track to everyone else. Three of his last four scoring shots were crunching boundaries before, missing a pull shot, he was stunned to find himself given out leg before(66-4). The runs virtually dried up and when Chris Booker(1), Jonny Holt(0) and Sam Astley(4) were put out of their strokeless misery, we were 78-7 and the eight runs needed suddenly looked a mountainous target. Enter Barber(7no) and, after a near disaster on his first ball, it was he and the cool David Badrock(4no)who saw us through to a 20-point win.   
Scores: Disley 85(39.4 overs;  Baker 25, Barber 7-27, N.Fithon 1-12, P.Garner 1-17, Kelly 1-9). Romiley 88-7(30.3 overs;  Kelly 27, Wood 3-39)
  Lymm’s Aussie skipper Travis Scholes paid us a big compliment after seeing us come back from the near-dead in the Cheshire Shield. He said: ‘You could see your team have grown up together in the spirit they showed.’ He was right about a side which included five teenagers, but it needed the Holt brothers to put us right on another awkward track after Rolph(5), Kelly(0), Allcock(0)and Barber(4) had been dismissed for just 29 in under an hour. Three of them were surprised by the disconcerting bounce achieved by the burly Scholes and his opening partner, Wright. Then Rick, who had to fight hard to survive, was joined by Jonny in a game-turning fifth- wicket stand of 80 in 52 minutes. Gradually, they progressed from survival mode to counter-attacking aggressive strokeplay. It says much for Jonny, who’s been struggling for runs, that he almost matched Rick shot for shot before being caught for 34 off a chest-high full toss. Eddie Nickson(8) gave the increasingly dominant Rick some support for the sixth wicket. Then he, James Badrock(3), and Sam Astley(1) were dismissed and it looked a question of who could stay with Rick on his way to his ton. But when the opener was on 97, his superb 2hr 37min 12- four defiance ended when he was out caught. But David Badrock(9) and Paul Garner(10) kept the momentum going with an unbeaten stand of 24 for the last wicket which meant we had something to defend. Lymm were soon shoved on the back foot. Kelly, bristling after a rare duck, struck twice in his first two overs and when Barber followed it with another Lymm were 7-3. The team that led the second division until the previous day never recovered. Only Wright, with an unbeaten 36, showed real resistance. Scholes could have been dangerous, but James Badrock nailed him in a bizarre over. The umpire miscounted, giving him a seventh ball which was a wide. It was extended further by a no ball but, with his last legitimate delivery, he had Scholes edging to Jonny Holt. Shah(12) was the only other bat to hit double figures. He fell to a beautiful Ben Allcock slip catch off David Badrock’s promising legbreaks. There was little left.
**Now, on August 1,  we face a home semi-final with Chelford or Marple, who play their quarter-final on Sunday(July 25). The other semi pits holders Cheadle against Congleton.
Scores: Romiley 188-9(45 overs; R.Holt 97, Wright 3-13). Lymm 95(30.3 overs; D.Badrock 3-18, Barber 2-7, Kelly 2-13, J.Badrock 2-28, Garner 1-19)