Audlem Lose Out

Audlem 1st XI suffered a 2 wicket reverse at the hands of Styal on Saturday in the 2015 season curtain raiser at Gorse Croft.

The match, sponsored by Retreading Business, was Stuart Stanway's first game as Skipper after taking the reins from Richard Wilson at the end of last year.

Conditions were near perfect at the ACG as the sun beat down on a fresh looking pitch and lush outfield as the visitors began to arrive from their Manchester base.

Buoyed by a flurry of activity in the winter transfer window, Audlem knew Styal would be a different proposition to the side they comprehensively beat near the end of 2014. Of note in the home XI were league debuts for the Farnell brothers Ronnie and Reggie who impressed in a friendly last week.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Stanway and Rothwell strode the crease for Audlem hoping to make the most of a good pitch with the latter crunching his first ball for four. It was to be the Boltonian's only meaningful act as he was caught at gully just one over later.

Wilson (4) was bowled at the same end with the breeze and early start assisting the new ball. Stanway hit several boundaries as he looked to counter attack but when Matthews (6) departed the home side were in trouble at 28-3.

The score had moved to 42 when Audlem's captain was removed for 14, Kural (4) chipped to mid on soon after and the Farnell brothers were bowled in quick succession with the score now reading a very gruesome 45-7.

McIlveen rallied, and assisted by Toraman they began to rebuild the innings with several nice strokes before a mix up in the running ended in disaster for the Turkish all-rounder. This brought the effervescent Neil Humphries to the crease, who set about showing the batsmen how it was done.

Aggressive from the outset, Styal were unable to halt the charge as Audlem moved towards 3 figures. McIlveen's dismissal brought last man Simon Swift to the crease and he managed to hold up an end for Humphries to continue his assault.

Reaching 114 was a recovery of sorts from the situation one hour previously but when the Silver Fox was caught for 26 it never looked like being enough on a pitch with very few demons.

After deciding to do a 'split tea' this week, Antigua born Qhama Matthews was tasked with providing some simple, yet filling, sandwiches. Armed with a knife, two loaves of Hovis Best of Both, a pack of Morrisons Wafer Thin Ham and absolutely no butter whatsoever he set about butchering the good name of cricket teas with a selection of sandwiches one observer described as being 'drier than Dave Parry's bathmat'. Only Richard Wilson's late dash to a local Co-Op prevented a formal inquiry.

Following tea, Styal's openers made it clear they were in no mood to hang around and raced to 69-0 with a series of hefty blows. It was only the introduction of Humphries that managed to stem the tide as he picked up two quick wickets.

McIlveen's change of ends yielded two more wickets and suddenly the visitors got the jitters with Humphries continuing to wreak havoc from the Hedge End. At 100-6 with 15 required Styal were still favourites but having lost 30-6 ,Audlem sensed they were in with more than a sniff of carving out a shock win.

Humphries took his tally to 6 wickets before the close but it wasn't enough as the visitors edged home picked up a maximum 25 points.

After the game Stuart Stanway said: "We lost that game in the first half of each innings, it wasn't a bad pitch and the batsmen have let themselves down with shot selection. Having said that we showed great character to make it such a close finish and I can take heart from that" before adding he would "need to look at the data" ahead of next week's game.

It is Mellor away for the 1st XI next week and Stanway has concerns over Matthews, (fitness) and Swift (travelling) as he looks to secure his first win as captain.

Nets will be on Thursday night from 5.00pm. The coach for away support next week leaves at 11.30am from outside The Leopard in Nantwich and season tickets are still at a discounted rate until the start of May.

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.