A remarkable day as Milnrow CC records tumble

It is thought that Milnrow broke a number of club and league records in what turned out to be a remarkable game on Saturday against Oldham.

Milnrow won the toss and chose to bat and the runs came quick and fast as openers James Price and Lee Crabtree quickly got into their stride against the weak bowling and fielding from Oldham.

Both batsmen scored quickly from the off and as confidence grew, runs flowed freely all round the wicket and Milnrow reached 66 from the first ten overs.

Price, who scored 208 in his previous game against Elton, hit the ball powerfully to all parts of the ground and his century came up in just 64 balls. Thereafter he simply demolished the bowling and made 233 from 117 balls, showing real class in his shot making and was simply far too good for the bowling.

To score two consecutive double hundreds is believed to be unprecedented in the Milnrow's history and no one at the club was able to remember any individual player scoring 233 in an innings.

At the other end, Milnrow's wicketkeeper, Lee Crabtree, batted superbly. Picking up singles and twos at first, he increasingly opened up and hit many boundaries. He reached his maiden century in first team cricket in 102 balls. Crabtree has played a number of excellent innings for the club this season and it gave great satisfaction to the Milnrow supporters to see him reach three figures.

Price and Crabtree put on 324 for the first wicket and everyone was fairly certain that this was the highest partnership in the club's history.

Crabtree was finally out on 116 whilst Price continued to smash the ball around the ground.

Power chipped in with 38 not out and 14-year-old Jack Wynn scored 14 good runs.

Milnrow reached 454 for 4, also believed to be unprecedented in the club's history.

This total was never going to be reached by the Oldham team but they did bat well to make 231.

The fifth wicket partnership of 142 between Ul-Haq and Eric caused Milnrow frustration, with both batsmen punishing the lacklustre Milnrow bowling.

However, Price was again the key man as he removed Ul-Haq for 82 with a caught and bowled, and from that moment on he and Wilkinson mopped up the rest of the batting order with the last six wickets falling for just 16 runs.

Captain, Power, chipped in with a rare wicket by removing the final Oldham batsman.

The winning margin of 223 is thought to be another club record on a remarkable day.