Ainsworth Glory for Bohannon’s Bolton

Bolton U15s - Ainsworth Trophy 2012 Winners

Sefton 163-9 (50 overs) lost to Bolton 164-5 (44 overs) by 5 wickets.

Bolton District U15 claimed the Lancashire Schools Cricket Association Ainsworth Trophy by 5 wickets after victory by 5 wickets over Sefton District at Old Trafford on Monday (17th September). On a rare dry day this summer, Sefton skipper Matthew Virtue won the toss and elected to bat on the wicket used by the England and South Africa T20 squads the previous week and would have been hoping to set Bolton a tough chase. Sefton opener Nick Knight looked to set the tone by hitting the first ball of the game from Chris Brownlow for 4 as it became clear early on that seam bowling may not be the way forward on this pitch. This proved the case as the first Sefton wicket to fall was when Bolton skipper Josh Bohannon brought himself on early with his off spin as opposition skipper Virture chipped to Ayaz Hanif at mid-wicket. Bohannon went on to claim 4-26 from his 10 overs including the wicket of the other Sefton opener Knight for 24. He was ably supported by Josh Cross who claimed 3-33 from 10 and Ayaz Hanif whose tight spell of 10-2-15-1 gave Bolton control. At 120-8 Sefton looked dead and buried but an excellent 35* from Jack Baybutt with support from Scott Snaylam (12) allowed Sefton to close their 50 overs on 163-9.

Bolton opened their innings with Bohannon and Chris Brownlow, who were soon on the offensive and particularly harsh on the Sefton seamers as they progressed to 20-0 off just 3 overs. However, Scott Bolton dismissed Brownlow for 13 caught in the gully by Virtue. As in the Sefton innings, spin slowed down the scoring rate and with this claimed 3 quick Bolton wickets as Bohannon (31) was LBW to Snaylam, Joe Brown (12) was caught at slip by Knight off Liam Johnson and Joe Kershaw (17) was caught off Sam Whyte. Ross Sutton and Ayaz Hanif steadied the Bolton innings and after the dismissal of Sutton for 37 by Joe Lowe, it was left to Fraser Kay (16*) to support Hanif (27*) to take Bolton to victory with 6 overs to spare.

Written by: Chris Highton (Bolton CDC)

Please find a report by Paul Edwards as well who watched Old Trafford's last game of the season: Ainsworth Trophy Final.