Tinker Cup
Crosby have a mountain to climb when they play Cronkbourne in the final of the Tinker Cup on Saturday. The Tromode side are the red-hot favourites to lift the trophy which they have won a record 17 times. Their nearest rivals for this honour are Ramsey with nine final victories.
In contrast Crosby have won the Tinker only once – and that was way back in 1993. The competition is set for 40 overs per innings and the last time Crosby beat Cronkbourne in this format was in 2011. Since then there have been nine such fixtures between the clubs with Cronkbourne winning eight and one rained off. The Douglas team have reached the final by beating Castletown and last year’s holders Peel and St John’s. The Marown side defeated Ramsey and Valkyres.
So is there any hope for Crosby? Well, this is a cup match where anything can happen. In addition, the game goes ahead on their home track at Marown. The venue was to be agreed between the two clubs and it went to the toss of a coin. Dave Picken spun for Crosby and Adam Killey incorrectly called for Cronkbourne. This is important as Crosby were clearly nervous about playing on the Tromode grass track. They prefer their home artificial pitch with the smaller straight boundaries.
Also Cronkbourne skipper Max Stokoe must be worried about what happened last Saturday in the Premiership. His side had to beat Castletown to keep up the pressure on Peel and St John’s at the top of the table. All seemed well when they dismissed the Town for 94 and were 38 for 1 in reply. Then Seb Hopkins and Tom Kennaugh struck and the last nine wickets went down for only 22 runs. Six of the batsmen failed to score. Stokoe must now clearly lift the team, bring back confidence and attack their opponents. The Crosby batting relies heavily on Danny Kniveton with 650 runs at an average of 40 and Drew Buxton who has 479 runs at 48.
Against that Cronkbourne can field Carl Mellors (762 runs), Nathan Knights (672) and the formidable all-rounder Jaco Jansen. His record this year is 578 runs at an average of 83 plus 14 wickets and an economy rate of under four an over. Mellors and Jansen were missing from last week’s defeat by Castletown. If they return, then it will be an enormous boost for the side.
So can Crosby overcome the odds? Being the underdogs will suit them and put the pressure on Cronkbourne to perform. Most people expect it is going to be Max Stokoe lifting the trophy, but this is a cup final where it is always best to expect the unexpected!
Juniors
On Sunday the Island Under 11s played their closing game at the Malvern festival against Buckinghamshire. Batting first they made a good start and reached 47 for 2 when Harry McAleer fell to Joe Hogan for an excellent 31 from 36 balls. Hogan then demolished the middle order to finish with 5 -22 as the Manx were bowled out for 75.
In reply Bucks were rocked by an opening spell from Nathan Williams who took 3 -22 from six overs. At 43 for 6 the game was in the balance, but Sam Codrington and George Rackstraw dug in. Although pinned down by tight IOM bowling, they gradually moved towards their target before Codrington was bowled by Fraser Clarke for 9, made off 32 balls. The score was then 68 for 7, but new batsman Aadi Sharma hit a six to take his side to a narrow victory by just three wickets.
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