14/06/2026
Match Reports Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th June 2026
Subdued Norley Hall Let Visitors Off the Hook
Norley Hall’s first team again failed to capitalise on a strong second innings position in their home defeat against Fleetwood Hesketh on Saturday.
Winning the toss and choosing to bowl in what looked to be bowler friendly conditions, the visitors looked to exert a stranglehold immediately with a defensive sweeper on both the off side and leg side boundary from the first ball.
The visitors also looked to use their two slow left arm bowling options to good effect as scoring was proving to be difficult.
That said, opening batters Alex Martlew and Charlie Benson got the Norley innings off to a good start. However, when they were both out in quick succession with the score on 32, it saw a much below par Norley batting performance as wickets fell at regular intervals not helped by some bad luck for Daniel Fisher and Ryan Wood. Shah Afridi bucked the prevailing trend for a while as he looked yet again to be in imperious form and brought up a well deserved half century. However, when he was caught a mid off for a top scoring 52, it was left to Callam Hughes and Callum Martlew to bring some respectability to the innings total. Callum Martlew was eventually left stranded on 20 not out as the hosts were bowled out for 135 in 50.1 overs. In also acknowledging the excellence of the visitors overseas player Imran Khalid (who took 7 wickets) many observers felt that 170-180 would have been the par score for the pitch conditions experienced.
In reply, whilst runs were coming too freely when defending such a low total, wickets were also falling as the visitors fell to 36-4 including an exceptional diving catch from wicketkeeper Matthew Hayes off the bowling of Wood and a diving catch over his head from Afridi at backward point. At 87-7, the game still looked to be very much in favour of Norley. However, the bowlers failed to apply the required pressure collectively (plus the energy of the team in the field dissipated too quickly for the situation at hand) as the visitors batters showed impressive application and game awareness to turn the situation around.
Norley eventually letting slip a game they should have won and falling to a disappointing three wicket defeat with around 12 overs left in the days play. Ryan Wood took 3 wickets, and there were two apiece for Liam and Callum Martlew.
Skipper Callam Hughes will be looking for his team to turn around their recent poor form at home when they are away next Saturday at highflying Prescot and Odyssey.
The second team meanwhile lost by 15 runs away at Sutton CC. The hosts won the toss and made 130 all out in 40.1 overs. Andrew Magrath bowled an amazing spell as he took 6 wickets for a miserly 20 runs in 16.1 overs. There were also 2 wickets for James Woodcock and Keiron Ashcroft.
In reply, Norley fell to 54-7 before some late order resistance from Danny Atkinson (30) and Magrath (who capped a fine all round display with 26) brought respectability to the score as the team finished 15 runs short on 115 all out in 41.1 overs.
It was left to the Nighthawks Women’s Team to bring some cheer to the club when they played neighbours Spring View on Sunday morning. The visitors batted first and were restricted to a net score of 226 from their 16 overs. Captain for the day Georgia Magrath, led the way with 4 wickets and there were three wickets for Natalie Martlew and one for Shannon McCormick.
In reply, the Norley batters showed good shot selection and effective running between the wickets as they lost only one wicket in achieving a net score of 284. Martlew top scoring with 23 with contributions also from the other batters.
