Weekly round-up
- Mersey Rose Recs CC Media Team
- Jun 14
- 3 min read
Rose travelled to Frodsham and Whitefield

On Sunday 8th June Mersey Rose's hardball season finally got underway with a visit to our friends at Frodsham. A few days later, on Friday 13th June, the softball team played at warm-up match with Whitefield ahead of the Out 4 Cricket tournament in which they will be representing Lancashire.
Frodsham 109-6 (Mark Clement 25*, Nick Corless 20; Isaac Lockett 3-9)
Mersey Rose 96-3 (Tim Griffiths 25*, Alan Hitchmough 15; James Blythe 1-17)
Frodsham won by 13 runs
Scorecard
Mersey Rose's team included debutant off-spinner Isaac Lockett, former England over 60s player Alan Hitchmough and club chairman Joe Crossley who is showing no sign of returning from the game he has played for over eight decades.
Rose won the toss and opted to put Frodsham in to bat. Opening bowlers Billy Gartside and Anna Page were unable to make the breakthrough but the introduction of Isaac Lockett into the attack paid off when he bowled Nick Corless for 20. He then took the wickets of Thomas Coyne and Jim Morrell with successive balls, while Alan Hitchmough also picked up two wickets. Frodsham slipped from 79 for 1 to 96 for 6, although their seventh wicket partnership of Sam Harvey and James Blythe were able to take the total to 109 for 6 from 30 overs.
This pleased Rose captain Andi Page who felt this was a target that could reasonably be chased. Tim Griffiths and Billy Gartside started slowly but soon found some momentum. This was, unfortunately, halted when Gartside was run out looking for a run that wasn't really there. Isaac Lockett was out with the next ball, caught by Jim Morrell off the bowling of James Blythe. After Griffiths retired on reaching 25, Andi Page and Alan Hitchmough came together and kept the scoreboard ticking over but struggled to find the boundaries that would keep them ahead of the run rate. Aside from a late run out in the final over there were no further wickets despite some positive Frodsham bowling, but Rose couldn't quite reach the target and ended their innings on 96 for 3.
On a positive note, Rose did not lose many wickets and suffer the kind of batting collapse that occurred so often last season. Fielding errors were minimal and Rose were able to put up a fight and make some kind of run chase, even if we fell 14 runs short of victory. There were many signs of improvement and the performance will provide some belief for the remaining games.
Mersey Rose 89–5 - Net score 269 (15 overs)
Whitefield 76–9 - Net score 240 (13 overs)
Match drawn
On Friday evening Mersey Rose played a Whitefield Juniors softball team, made up of players from their under 11s and under 13s sides. This was a warm-up game for Rose in advance of the Out4Cricket tournament in Birmingham on Sunday, but was also a welcome fixture for Whitefield as the under 11s were without a game.
Rose captain Anna Page (pictured) won the toss and opted to bat. Some aggressive batting from Ian Mosquito (28), and some useful contributions from Martin Snape (13), Billy Gartside (14) helped Rose to a total of 95 for 5 from 15 overs. Some milestones were achieved in the course of the innings, including Martin and Ian hitting their first sixes in any format, and Amy Parsons hitting her first boundary.
Whitefield's talented youngsters batted well but lost wickets Aaron McKenna took a wicket with his first ball, thanks to a good catch at fine leg from Ian Mosquito. Billy Gartside took three wickets, while Anna Page took a fantastic caught and bowled. Martin Snape and David Crossley were also among the wickets. Some of Rose's fielding was good, and twice Anna Page and Jake Vaughan combined to run out Whitefield batters.
With thirteen overs bowled and the net score on 240, a downpour brought a halt to the game. It was unfortunate given the potentially exciting final two overs, but no further play was possible and so the game was drawn.
There were many positives to take from the game, especially the bowling. However, Rose remain a work in progress and the game provided a lot of food for thought regarding potential improvement. There's a fair bit we still have to work on in training!
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