Delph got their season off the mark with victory in a tense and exciting finish with a last wicket win against visitors Moorlands.
After winning the toss Moorlands decided to bat first but soon lost openers Michael McEwan (10) and Shoukat Ali (4) with the score on 21 for 2. Former Delph player Siraj Sajid and overseas Jason Grosvenor then looked to steady the innings and took the score to 78 before Sajid was trapped lbw to Adam Hayes’s first ball for 25. James Stansfield then joined Grosvenor and the pair added exactly 100 partnership with Stansfield falling to a tumbling catch by Mosun Hussain for 45 (7 4’s and 1 6). Grosvenor then carried on to record a fine century to remain 135 not out at the end of the innings with 14 4’s and 6 6's. With support from Michael Rounding (27) and Andrew Fortis (13) he shepherded Moorlands to a final total of 287 for 5 at the close of the innings.
Delph’s innings got off to a terrible start for them when both openers Mosun Hussain and Nathan Jones, together with overseas Rehan Afridi, were dismissed without scoring leaving the team on 7 for 3. At this point there was a short rain interruption which reduced the innings by 5 overs. This meant a revised target of 266. On the resumption Alex Peters and skipper Louis Aspeling steadily built a solid response taking the total to 152 before Peters was trapped lbw for a fine run a ball 82, which contained 9 4’s and 5 6’s. Aspeling was then joined by Adam Hayes and the pair took Delph within 50 runs of victory. However, as soon as Hayes reached his 50 he played across a straight one from Shoukat Ali and was bowled. He scored his runs off only 32 balls, hitting 2 4’s and 5 6's. Aspeling soon followed for a resilient 64 off 92 balls (10 4's) and with Luke Hargreaves going cheaply this left Delph rocking on 217 for 7. Opening bowlers Umer Yaqoob (13) and Muhammad Shakir (20) took the total past 250, but both fell quickly thereafter to leave Delph requiring 10 to win with the last wicket pair at the crease with less than 2 overs to go. A valuable 4 from Xander Selby took Delph closer, but it was left to Walter Kasim to steer his side home with a 4 and a 2 off the last over and Delph were home with just 2 balls to go. A memorable comeback for Delph.
