Milnrow Bounce Back From Defeat To Heyside With Win Against Werneth

On Saturday, Milnrow struggled in the face of some excellent bowling and fielding from Heyside. Heyside's professional, Shadley van Schwalkwyk, opened the bowling and bowled with real skill to remove Milnrow's top three batsmen with the score on just 21. Van Schwalkwyk moved the ball both ways and with real zip, whilst also varying his pace. Many observers commented on the level of skill being shown and Milnrow's batsmen struggled all afternoon with the accuracy. As he has done many times, however, skipper Max Power had to lead a rearguard action and again he did it with real skill. He batted doggedly to rebuild the score, receiving good help from Wilkinson, Wilson and Diplock, but in the last ten overs he batted brilliantly to get Milnrow to a score of 177 for 8. Power was out in the last over, having scored 82. His last 30 runs came in 10 balls and included 2 sixes and a four in the 49th over. This gave the Milnrow supporters and players some belief that they could defend their total. However this was quickly blown away by some aggressive batting by the Heyside openers, particularly Holt who scored 84 from 66 balls. Milnrow were never able to sustain any pressure and Heyside reached their total in 28 .1 overs. 

This meant that the team had to bounce back on Sunday, away at Werneth, and the team struggled to contain the batting of former Milnrow player Ali Muzzafar, who scored 139 not out. The other Werneth players faced some good bowling from the Milnrow attack and only one other Werneth player made over 12 runs. 

Most notable performance from the Milnrow lads was Aaron Brown's 5 for 82 from 22 overs. Brown has been performing really well this season and this was a great return from him. All the other bowlers chipped in with a wicket each, but the total looked a high one and much of the responsibility of getting there rested on the shoulders of Milnrow professional, James Price.

To the delight of the Milnrow supporters, Price batted brilliantly and made his second century of the season. His 104 came from just 75 balls and he showed his full range of classy shots. His innings included 15 fours and 3 sixes in an opening stand of 147 with Rob Wilman. Wilman's innings was also appreciated by the Milnrow players and supporters. He batted resolutely, understood his role perfectly as Price dominated the bowling, and played some excellent shots himself as he hit 5 fours. Price was out with the total on 147 and Wilman batted with captain, Max Power, to take the total on to 176 before, disappointingly, he was out on 46, four runs short of a maiden 50 for the first team. Wilkinson was out for a duck before Power and Dryden led the team home fluently. 

The Werneth total was reached in the 42nd over and Power and Dryden finished on 45 and 37 not out respectively. This was a fine win for Milnrow considering the disappointment of the previous day.
Also worth noting was the first team debut of another one of Milnrow's talented youngsters. George Booth, 15 on Saturday, came in as replacement wicketkeeper and performed very well with the gloves, taking a couple of catching and a stumping over the weekend. 

Meanwhile, the second team had a brilliant win against top of the table Royton, largely thanks to an unbeaten 40 from 12 year old Keelan Shipley. He took the team from 88 for 8 to 190 for 9 and this set up a great victory in which he also took four catches as Royton were dismissed for 106.
Milnrow are trying to give their emerging youngsters games in their senior team and are being repaid for showing this faith. The club now looks for consistency in all its teams as they try and build on positive individual performances.

Contributed by
Colin Williamson
Chairman, Milnrow Cricket Club

Looking Back On The Carnival

Carnival Secretary, Claire Kierans reflects on this years carnival. Thousands of people lined the streets to watch Milnrow & Newhey Carnival and attended the family fun day at Milnrow Memorial Park. 

In its 47th year, the carnival parade was the largest parade for 40 years with 22 groups participating. Ten large floats made the carnival procession an impressive sight. Captain Jack Sparrow led the parade followed by Milnrow Brass Band and the carnival queens. There were princesses and pirates, fairy tale characters, under the sea themes, gnomes, Jesus Christ Superstar themes, steel bands, street dancers, Morris dancers, footballers, drama groups and all kinds of fancy dress.

At Milnrow Memorial Park a new larger fun fair was in the park with a full range of rides catering for all ages from toddlers to adults. The rides included waltzers, ghost train, teacups, toddler train, trampolines, huge inflatables, hook a duck and a firm favourite of the day: the superb flying chairs ride. Children and adults alike enjoyed paintball, which is a new addition to the event. It went down so well it is already booked for next year!

The entertainment was top notch this year, thanks to Vibe Youth Music of Rochdale for providing the professional sound system, highly acclaimed group The Scattering and the hugely entertaining group Sunday@One was enjoyed by all. Milnrow Brass Band played at the park and the Az Kabile Tribal Belly Dancers did two fantastic displays.

At the park there was a wide variety of stalls including toy stalls, book stalls, face painting, hair accessories, handbag stalls and crazy golf. The committee was delighted to support the launch two new local businesses at the event - Mrs Barbers Bakery who offers a selection of delicious unique cakes and biscuits and Busy Beans coffee, a 5 star rated mobile specialty coffee and tea business, perfect for any event.

In addition, Kidz Club Milnrow were on hand with craft stalls for the children to participate in along with nail painting and sand art.

A prize give away took place in the afternoon, with meal vouchers for The Cedar Tree and The Italian Job, numerous bottles of wine kindly donated by PTG Holroyd, Tesco and the Co-operative Food Milnrow, children's toys, cakes from Mrs Barbers Bakery, hot a stones therapy session at Abbey Rose Holistic Therapies, glasses case and voucher from Yates and Suddell Opticians, a gift voucher for Do Dig Doggy, bags of cookies from Subway and a £50 on the spot cash prize.

The committee would like to thank all who took part in the parade. We are always amazed by the effort put in to the costumes and float decoration and we are immensely grateful for their participation. In independent panel judged the parade entrants and the winners were:

Best Children's Float: St Thomas C of E Primary School
Best Adult Float: The Fancy Dress Shop
Best Walking Display: Milnrow Pre-School
Best Children's Fancy Dress: Newhey Community Primary School
Best Adult Fancy Dress: Captain Jack Sparrow
Spirit of the Carnival: Loud Studios

The committee would like to thank EMR Recycling for their support. Also a huge thank you to Graham Poole Transport, Minky and Holroyds for providing vehicles and drivers for the event. Thanks are offered to the Waggon Garage, All about Flowers, House of Flowers, The Beauty Spot and PW Greenhalgh for their contribution to the carnival queens float. We would like to thank Milnrow Bowling Club for re arranging their fixture list, Kenny Smith for his invaluable assistance at the park and Balfour Beatty for revising their road work schedule to allow for the parade to pass easily and for large vehicles to gain access to the park.

Finally, the committee would like to extend its gratitude to all who watched the parade and attended the family fun day. The date for next year's carnival is Saturday 11th June and we always aim for bigger and better each year. If any groups or companies would be interested in sponsoring the event, please call the Carnival Secretary on 07786 850266 or email milnrowcarnival@yahoo.com for further details.

Milnrow Library Rennovations

Milnrow Library has been under renovation recently bringing the upstairs of the building back into public use after more than 25 years of being nothing more than a storage room.

The space will be available to use as a meeting space within the next few weeks and local councillors are keen that as many community groups take advantage of the new space as possible.

For further information you can contact the library directly, cllrs Brett and Butterworth or Tracey Knight of the Pennines Township Committee.

Milnrow Down Oldham After Rain Stops Play

Milnrow put in a good performance to beat Oldham in a rain-shortened game on Saturday. Milnrow were put into bat by the home side but had to rally after a bad start in which they lost pro James Price and overseas amateur Brandon Diplock in two balls. At 20 for 2, opening batsman Lee Crabtree and captain Max Power had to re-build and they both worked hard to score their runs. Crabtree, already having a very good season, again showed his developing skills at the top of the order by getting into his stride and scoring several boundaries. He hit 2 fours and 3 sixes as he got used to the difficult wicket and reached 66 before being caught by Fazil off Hussain. Power showed his experience and resilience in grafting out his runs, rotating the strike with skill and making sure he batted through the innings. His 41 not out was crucial in helping Milnrow to post 141 from their 25 overs. This looked a challenging total on the difficult wicket.

Milnrow still needed to bowl well in order to defend their total and Brandon Diplock ensured that Oldham never really got near to it. The 19 year old from Zimbabwe bowled fluently and with skill to take six Oldham wickets. He bowled right through the Oldham innings, removed pro Hassan for a duck, and finished with figures of 6 for 56 from his 13 overs. Wilkinson picked up a couple of wickets and Milnrow ran out winners by 23 runs, as Oldham finished on 118 for 8 from their 25 overs. Milnrow's season is now gathering a little momentum with three victories in a row, including an excellent T20 victory at Middleton, and the Ladyhouse team will look to maintain their form with next weekend's games against Heyside and Werneth.


Contributed by
Colin Williamson
Chairman, Milnrow Cricket Club

Milnrow Bounce Back To Winning Ways At Elton

Milnrow CC bounced back from a disappointing series of results with a five point victory at Elton CC. The victory was secured by a brilliant innings by professional James Price who scored 124 not out from 107 balls. The Soth African showed his class with some superb shotmaking all round the ground, scoring runs freely right from the start. His innings enabled Milnrow to claim their first victory for five games and lifted the spirits and confidence of Milnrow's players and supporters.

Milnrow bowled first and although Elton made a good start, reaching 100 for the loss of only one wicket, the introduction of talented 14 year old old Lewis Ashton gave the whole team a lift. Although Lewis did not take a wicket he bowled accurately and showed real potential, and this gave Milnrow some momentum. Leading the way was Wilkinson, who bowled impressively. He took 4 for 66 from his 22 overs and this included three wickets in one over. This reduced Elton to 154 for 8 and although there was a late rally, two wickets in the last over kept Elton below 200. Their 191 all out included 4 wickets for Price.

Although there were two rain breaks in Milnrow's innings, Price batted with real skill and momentum to lead Milnrow home. He was ably supported by Lee Crabtree who played some good shots in his 20 and Steve Dryden who hit some excellent shots through the offside in making 25 not out. Price reached his 50 off 32 balls, his 100 off 88 and finished the game off in real style by hitting four consecutive sixes off the last four balls. His match winning innings was just what Milnrow needed and could be the platform for further progress in the next few weeks.

Milnrow are really trying to bring their young players through the system and it was noticeable that as well as Lewis Ashton's debut for the firsts there were other highlights on a day when all three Milnrow teams won their matches. Keelan Shipley made his debut for the second team aged just 12 and the third team had a crushing victory at Blackley with 16 year old Danny Crompton making 60 and 12 year old Alfie Lloyd-Jones making 41.

Contributed by
Colin Williamson
Chairman, Milnrow Cricket Club