Cricket: Struggling Chester Boughton Hall may lose skipper for season

Jun 11 2009 by Alec Doyle, Chester Chronicle

CROCKED Jim Gillson is still waiting to find out whether he will miss the rest of the season after breaking his hand.

The Chester Boughton Hall captain originally thought the injury, sustained against Oxton a fortnight ago, would keep him out for six weeks.

But multiple fractures discovered on his X-ray could keep him out for the rest of the Cheshire County League Premier Division campaign.

“I am hoping for the best because I do not want my season to be over,” he said.

“But we have to wait until the splints come off in a few days to find out.”

Hall are still in the relegation places after last weekend’s washout, and Saturday’s visit by Hyde will not be as easy as their league position suggests.

“Hyde are a top three side,” said Gillson. “They can blow hot and cold but they are very good and on a good day batsman Duffy can ruin all your plans single handedly.

“But we have the players to win games ourselves. Warren Goodwin with the bat and Alex Kegg with the ball pick up a lot of bonus points and if we can just start playing to our best we can achieve our aim of a comfortable mid-table placing.”

In Division One, meanwhile, CHRISTLETON are planning their assault on the promotion places after recent results put them squarely in contention for a return to the Premier Division.

They are only 12 points behind second-placed Cheadle and it was a defeat by that very team that still rankles with Christleton skipper Paul Allen.

“It was a bad result getting beat by Cheadle,” he said. “But Irby are third and we battered them so we know we can close the gap.

“We have taken 48 points from the last two games and confidence is running through the side with the bat and the ball.

“Dave Bates and Iroshan de Silva are in the top 10 batsmen, myself and Iroshan are 11th and 12th in the bowling.

“We have five or six players in good form where other teams have two or three.”

Christleton welcome struggling Timperley to Little Heath on Saturday and Allen is confident his side can deliver maximum points again.

“We always aim for the full points, we never play for a draw,” he said. “I think we are capable of registering a good win on Saturday.”

The entire County League programme was washed out by bad weather on Saturday.