Cricket beats rain

Audlem made the journey to Wilmslow last Saturday with one eye on the dark storm clouds that had been threatening all morning.

True to form, as soon as the teams left the comforts of the pavilion, the first job was to roll the covers onto the wicket area as the promised rain arrived bang on cue.

When play eventually got underway Audlem chose to take to the field where skipper Wainwright reasoned that his young bowling attack (with the exception of Roy Wild & John Chadwick) would be under less pressure from the belligerent Wilmslow batsmen.

With old stagers Wild and Chadwick keeping the pavilion end relatively quiet the young quartet of Chris Hardwick, Dan Thorburn, Ron Farnell and Abbie Adams (Abbie making her debut for the team) battled valiantly to stem the flow of runs from the bat of skipper Nick Coniff.

A special mention must be made of young Abbie, who showed no outward signs of nerves and proceeded to bowl a fine spell which was justly rewarded with a wicket to break the main partnership of the day.

Nick Coniff finished with a fine 110 out of a total of 218 for 6 declared with the bowling honours again going to Roy Wild who took 2 for 37 off his 11 overs but was ably supported by John Chadwick (8 overs, 1 for 32); Danny Thorburn  5 overs, 2 for 39); Abbie Adams (5 overs, 1 for 44); Ronnie Farnell (4 overs for 21) and Chris Hardwick (5 overs for 43).

Set a large total with a predominately inexperienced team, skipper Wainwright decided caution was the best option for the day against the swing bowling of Car and Pickles.

Runs were in short supply as risk taking was kept to a minimum. With half the overs bowled and the score not yet 50 it became apparent the game was heading for a stalemate.

A final flurry from Leo North, who was Audlem's top scorer of the day with 26 valuable runs, ensured the team pocketed a share of the batting points on offer to finish the day on a commendable 111 for 5 (J.Wainwright 13, Ron Farnell 12).

Next week Audlem take to the road again, this time to Warrington to lock horns with Rylands

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