As seems to be the way with the TCIF ‘rota’, I am once again bereft of any significant birthdays so it was a toss up between reflecting on the shooting of Wild Bill Hickock in 1876, the death of Alexander Graham Bell in 1922 or the celebration of what would have been film director Wes Craven’s 80th birthday. It is interesting to note that “Wild Bill” was shot dead whilst playing poker at the tender age of 39, our very own Warbo can count himself lucky he’s made it to nearly 50 and avoided such a fate! Now you mention it, the death of Alexander Graham Bell does ring a bell but it’s the career of Wes Craven which has been giving me nightmares when trying to compose this weekend’s preview.

Looking to kick start a good run for the remainder of the season, Matt Owens 1st XI (Tom Marsland is unavailable as he’s away on a Deadly Friends stag do) welcome Sale buoyed by the Annual Past Players lunch. Sale currently sit in 8th place, 45 points ahead of the 1’s but come into the game after a shocker following two defeats. In the reverse fixture, we were 139 all out with Connor Smith top scoring with 46 but lost by 8 wickets. Tyrone Lawrence is their leading run scorer (257 runs) and Richard Halkon (19 wickets) the leading wicket taker. The Upton side see’s two changes from last weeks side with Mike McGreary and Matt Smith coming in, plus Jack Ward will be the Stranger in the House as he makes his debut in the green & gold following his move from Macclesfield.

On the road, Tom Maguire returns to lead the 2’s as they head to bottom of the table Grappenhall looking to ease their way out of the relegation zone. Their hosts seemed Cursed having won just one game this season and will be looking to reverse the fortunes of the game earlier in the season which saw the 2’s win with Tom Woods top scoring with 43 and Rich Battersby take 4 for 49. Steve Rooney (169 runs) and Ross Arrowsmith (16 wickets) have been their main players this year. The Upton side features two pairs of brothers - James & Tom Woods and Luke & George Williams.

Ian Sharrock’s title chasing 3rd XI will be looking to get back to winning ways when they welcome Runcorn to the back pitch. The visitors are challenging hard in 5th place just 34 points behind table toppers Didsbury and 32 points off their hosts. In the reverse fixture earlier in the season, Sawda’s men left their hosts with Red Eyes as they inflicted a 9 wickets defeat on them with the skipper claiming a 5fer and Ian Potter finishing with 87 not out. The Upton side is bolstered by Club President in what will be is 1,222nd game for Upton having scored 16,792 runs and taken 695 wickets in those games - not a bad addition!

Facing the same opposition they were hoping to play before last Saturday’s Chiller paid to that, Rob Chapman’s 4th XI travel down the M53 to face promotion chasing Christleton where they will hoping for a good result which will see them cement their position in the top half of the table. Harry Morris is their leading run scorer (243 runs) and both Adam Bayley and Jack Harding have 13 wickets apiece. For anybody looking for directions, the ground is past The Last House on the Left.

On Sunday, the Sunday 1st XI host the Jeff Woods XI in the annual memorial match whilst the Ladies XI go to Appleton in a battle against the team one place below them in 6th. In their first encounter of the season, the Upton ladies will be looking to push hard and move up the table.

Whatever you do this weekend, enjoy your cricket.