Audlem 2nd XI close in on title

Last weekend saw Audlem 2nd XI take a great step towards the League title as they beat Stalybridge St Paul's 2nd XI by 140 runs whilst rivals Stretton lost by 14 runs at Holmes Chapel.

Five regulars were unavailable on the Bank Holiday weekend and things looked bleak after just one over from Mudassar Bashir as he swiftly removed Danny Thorburn and Shaj Ali Snr with the score at 2-2.

With Zar Ahmed sunning himself in Dubai it was left to his deputy Stuart Stanway to show the way forward and he showed his class with a superb innings of 131 not out reaching his century in 83 balls.

He was ably supported by club newcomer Trystan George who showed all the hallmarks of a player brought up in that cricketing hotbed that is Switzerland. As soon as he too reached his century with a mighty six skipper Thorburn declared the innings closed at 263-2 after 38 overs.

Stalybridge fought bravely but were swept aside by Rob Mottershead who became the third highest wicket taker in the division (after Bashir and Woodcock) with a superb spell of 5-44.

Genuine resistance was shown by the division's leading bowler Mudassar who hit ten sixes in remarkable innings of 71 but once he had perished on the boundary Lyndon Woodcock polished off the remaining batsmen in two overs taking 3-5.

The visitors were all out for 123 on their last visit to the Gorse Croft before joining the Cheshire and Derbyshire League next year.

On Saturday Audlem travel to Stretton for the long-awaited summit meeting between the two teams that have been neck and neck at the top of the league all season.

Fortunately all the mainstays of the seconds are back in action for the final two matches and following last weekend's results Audlem now have a lead of 42 points. They therefore require 9 points from the last two matches to clinch the championship.

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.