Cricket Report

Cricket Report

Saturday 9 September Audlem CC v Wood Lane CC

Despite the fact that both teams had little to play for in terms of important league points as the hosts were already confirmed as champions and the visitors were comfortably situated in mid-table with no prospect of promotion or relegation the game was played in a highly competitive manner on a blisteringly hot late Summers' day at The Gorse Croft.

As everyone feared skipper Chris Shenton lost the toss and was unsurprisingly invited to field first.

Opening bowlers' Kemal Toraman and Sanimon Nair toiled in the extreme afternoon heat and kept the scoring rate to less than 4 an over whilst posing a potent threat to the early order batsmen.

A sharp piece of fielding by Irfan Shaik brought Audlem's first wicket & a second was soon followed as Wood Lane's number 3 bat succumbed to Andy Rothwell's deceptive part time spin bowling. Veteran opening bat , Matthew Hagan was proving a difficult obstacle to remove but was kept in check by some tidy middle inning's bowling by Dan Butler and Dave Parkinson who both claimed a wicket apiece and prevent any meaningful partnerships forming.

The game swung decidedly Audlem's way with the reintroduction of Simon Swift back into the attack .After his initial spell had been wicketless Simon quickly removed the dangerous Hagan for an excellent 67 which exposed the later order batsmen who had no answer to his pace and movement as he finished the day with fine figures of 5 for 34 off his 8 overs as Wood Lane closed on a below par 159 for 9

Audlem's reply didn't get off to the finest of starts as both openers were back in the pavilion with only 12 runs on the board .

Wood Lane now had their tails up and sensed victory with plenty of chatter amongst the ranks in an effort to distract the incoming batsmen.

Tom Measures and Andy Rothwell soon buckled down and started to make inroads into the total with Tom playing the sheet anchor roll for a resolute 44 off 110 deliveries & Andy punishing anything remotely loose in a fine run a ball knock of 60 in a match winning partnership of 108.

All rounder, Kemal Toraman increased the tempo with a quickfire 20 to take Audlem to the brink of victory. It was left to Dave Parkinson to stroke the winning runs with a full 5 overs to spare and complete a comprehensive victory.

Next Saturday Audlem make the short trip to Woore for the final game of the season. The game has a 12.30pm start time.

John Wainwright

Audlem Cricket Club