BASEMENT boys Castrol seized a shock victory from the jaws of defeat at table-topping Stockport on Saturday.
They earned their first Meller Braggins League Division Two win in style after setting a modest total for the promotion favourites to chase.
Choosing to bat first and knowing the size of the task they faced, Castrol struggled early on. Only Mike Caulfield (33), Mike Garvey (29) and 18s from Richard Morrissey and Darren Green made any real impact on the scorers as the Oilmen posted 125ao.
Sensing a heavy defeat, Garvey simply asked his players to take the game to their hosts and see what happened.
Nishan Bhandary and Damian Walters (1-20) gave Castrol the perfect start with two wickets in the opening two overs.
At 8-2 Stockport shut up shop a little and Garvey (1-21) and Caulfield (2-5) came into the attack to cut off the run supply.
When Stockport were reduced to 33-4, Castrol soon realised they had a sniff of an upset.
Bhandary was brought back on to replace the tiring Caulfield and he really swung it in Castrol’s favour.
He tore the heart out of the middle order with final figures of 5-26. His second spell put Castrol firmly in the driving seat.
Pete Hyndman (1-9) was called upon to hammer home the advantage and Caulfield returned to seize upon Stockport’s final wicket as they were bowled out for 95.
Garvey said: “We’ve been playing good cricket for a few weeks now and to roll over this very strong Stockport side is an immense achievement.
“We didn’t bat very well, but the way we came out of the blocks after tea was immense.
“We need to keep our feet firmly on the ground, this is just one result and we need a couple more, but if we continue in this form anything is possible.”
Saturday’s match is at home to fellow strugglers Wistaston.
