Cricket Onneley -vs- Audlem

Onneley v Audlem

Audlem made the short journey to over the border into Shropshire to take on local rivals Onneley. The skies were grey and overcast with drizzle in the air. Onneley skipper Geoff Hall won the toss and showed no hesitation in inserting Audlem into bat with conditions favouring the bowlers.

His decision looked to have been a good one when opening bowler Bradley Hall took the prized wicket of Audlem captain Chris Shenton in the first over with just 4 runs on the board. A less than ideal start for promotion-chasing Audlem. However, this brought the experienced Phil Cottrell to the crease. Although Phil is better known for his quick bowling in his prime, he set about exploiting the early fielding restrictions by hitting the ball to all parts.
No Onneley bowlers were spared from the onslaught as he notched up his 50 off just 44 deliveries.

However, he was dismissed soon after for a impressive 56 off just 48 deliveries. He and the patient Andy Rothwell had moved the scored onto 75 before Cottrell's dismissal. 75-1 soon became 96-6 in true Audlem fashion. Rothwell, Parkinson, Furber and then Mcilveen the men to be dismissed. As the rain began to fall the players came off the field with Onneley well on top at this stage.

After the rain had passed Audlem began to rebuild their innings. A partnership of 36 between Butler and Swift was useful but Audlem remained in a unfavourable position at 132-7. The lower order of Humphries, Cottrell and the Wainwright supported Butler well to help Audlem to a respectable 183-9 off their 40 overs. Butler finished not out on 48 in a perfectly paced innings that accelerated towards the end.

After the tea-break, Audlem would have fancied themselves to take early wickets in conditions still favourable to the bowlers. However, despite a solid opening spell by Swift and Mcilveen they remained wicketless. Credit to Onneley's opening batsman Knowles and Rasaq who managed 30 and 33 respectably. The pair put on 71 for the first wicket before left-arm spinner Neil Humphries finally found a way through the stern defense of Rasaq. Knowles departed soon after to the bowling of fellow spinner Dave Parkinson. Humphries, Parkinson and Cottrell bowled tight spells through the middle of the Onneley innings, taking wickets and pushing the run rate towards 6 an over before the openers Swift and Mcilveen were brought back on to finish off the game.

Mcilveen took 2 wickets in 2 balls to all but end Onneley's hopes of chasing down the target. With Onneley requiring an unlikely 29 for victory in the last over, Swift took the wicket of Karl High off the first ball of the final over to all but end the run chase. Onneley finished on a respectable 158-9, falling 26 runs short in their pursuit of 184 to win.

A great team performance from Audlem in difficult conditions. Stand out performances included Phil Cottrell and Dan Butler scoring 56 and 48 with the bat. Dave Parkinson 3-43, Neil Humphries 2-19 and Callum Mcilveen 2-22 were the standout bowlers.
However, Player of the Match for me must go to James Cottrell. His crucial 32 run partnership for the 9th wicket with Daniel Butler was ultimately the difference between the 2 sides. He then bowled 8 tight overs in a row and took the key wicket of Mark Knowles to help to swing the game back into Audlem's favour following such a good start from the Onneley batsman.

Next week Audlem host Checkley in a crucial game as they push for promotion. The game will begin at 1pm at Audlem Cricket Club 28/08/2021.