Talismanic all-rounder Luke Young starred with bat and ball as Hyde moved to the top of the Cheshire County Cricket League with a 5-wicket win at Neston on Saturday.
The visitors chose to field first but got off to an inauspicious start when Young’s first delivery was a no-ball that opener David Hurst flicked away to the boundary.
However, the lefty soon found his rhythm and the outside edge of Luke Jones’s bat, with the ball flying into the gloves of Hyde wicket keeper Andrew Jones.
The dismissal of Hurst saw Neston on 48-3, but Matthew Strong and John Sanders dug in to take the Wirral side to 151-5, despite a calamitous mix-up that saw the latter run out.
The Neston lower order proved to be resilient in clawing its way to 231-9 by time their 50 overs were up, with Young taking 5-49.
His confidence continued at the crease, hitting a fluid 118 runs from 124 balls.
Young’s fellow opener Andrew Jones was a little cagier in reaching a season’s best 34, but by the time he fell Hyde had cruised to 150-1.
Rian Maisuria, Max Harsham and last week’s centurion Coby Fitzsimmons could only muster 7 runs between them to take Hyde to 170-4, but Lancs and England youngster Charlie Barnard joined Young in the centre to score 38 not out and settle any thoughts of a wobble.
Young eventually succumbed to Tom Jones in the highlight of an otherwise erratic spell, in which he sprayed 14 wides in just five overs.
Barnard had the final say, though, clattering a huge six off Luke Jones to take Hyde to 236-5 with four overs to spare.
The Werneth Low side sit top of the table on 60 points alongside Lindow, who blew away Timperley with a free scoring 350-9 to win by 71 runs.
