Cricket Report

Audlem made it 9 wins in a row on Saturday and need just one point to be crowned champions after an easy victory over Crewe Vagrants.

Audlem opted to bat first and racked up 216 for 5 off their allotted 40 overs on the back of Chris Shenton's 72, featuring 11 fours, Atiq Hashmi's 47 not out and 33 from Howard Jones.

Crewe saw several batsman make starts -- Steve Bickerton top scored with 25 but they were all dismissed for 100.

Simon Swift produced a superb spell with the ball to finish with 5 wickets for only 2 runs with Neil Humphries ( 3 -- 17 ) playing his part.

Cheadle are in second place in the table, but their title hopes are almost over as they trail Audlem by 15 points with just one game to play with the two of them locking horns at The Gorse Croft on Saturday ( 12:30 pm start )

The Sunday X1 hosted MP Plumbing CC who play their games in the Chester Mid-Week Cricket League and within their ranks were two Audlem ' old boys' James Hindle and Gareth Pritchard.

Audlem took first knock and were soon into their stride with prolific opener Paddy Leese ( 52 retired not out ) and no.3 bat, young Michael Burton ( 30 ) sharing a second wicket stand of 79. The middle order was dominated by the commanding Dave Parkinson ( 50 retired not out ) with important contributions from Richard Irvine (13 ), David Cottrell (12) and Dan Perks with 15.

Twelve year old David deserves a special mention as he had quickly adapted to his first season in senior cricket in his role as a middle order batsman and promising seam bowler and has soon become an integral part of the team.

The innings closed on 216 for 8 off the 40 overs.

MP's reply was held in check with Audlem's premier opening bowlers both back in the team . Lauren bowling her initial 5 over spell and just conceding 20 runs whilst at the other end Taz was producing all kind of problems for the batsmen and dismissing the first 3 on the card for only 20 runs off his eight overs before having to depart the scene to open up Ayaans in the village at 5:00pm – with a substitute fielder ready to take over his role.

The visitor's middle order were up for the fight though with 'old boy' Gareth Pritchard leading the way with a resilient 38 aided by Mankertz (22) in a 77 run partnership to take the score to 124 before both being dismissed in quick succession . If Audlem thought the game was in the bag they were soon in for a rude awakening with T. Wright striking the ball sweetly to all parts to set up a grandstand finish until he was dismissed going for one more big shot with just 6 balls remaining and 15 runs required to give Audlem a hard earned victory. Man of the match was allrounder Dave Parkinson who complemented his 50 not out with bowling figures of 4 overs 1 maiden 3 wickets for only 10 runs.

Next Sunday Audlem play hosts to Woore ( 1:00pm start )

Recent Break-in to clubhouse

On a more sombre note we are sad to report that the club was broken into last week. The door was kicked in and the contents of the drinks cabinet were stolen. For a small club like ourselves this is quite devastating. Sadly this has meant us having to increase security measures around the club including at great expense the installation of CCTV. This is money we were hoping to use to improve the facilities for members and guests including providing a female changing / shower room . We now have to remove everything of value after each match. If anyone knows anything of this please get in touch via a private message. We provide a beautiful setting for anyone to enjoy the brilliant game of cricket and instances like this knock the stuffing out of our members who spend lots of hours each week providing and maintaining the facilities for this to take place.

John Wainwright

Audlem CC