Cricket Report

Cricket Report

Norton-in-Hales by 9 wickets at The Gorse Croft and the newly formed second team coming out victorious after a 'nail biting' finish away to Newcastle and Hartsill.

The following day the Sunday X1 were involved in more last ball drama but fell agonisingly short in a 1 run defeat to Aston.

Audlem were indebted to young Jake Topping for his magnificent al-lround display with bat and ball in Saturday's victory over Norton-in-Hales, claiming 3 victims for just 17 runs and backing that up with a fine 65 with the bat off just 48 deliveries.

Jake received excellent support from the home team's powerful bowling line-up with Abhijith Jayan ( 2 for 20 ), Alex Livingstone ( 2 for 25 ), Kamsani Pranay ( 2 for 3 ) & Vijayan Rahul ( 1 for 23 ) claiming the other wickets as Norton were bundled out for 137 in the 37th over.

With the new format of win / lose / draw cricket being played in all divisions this gave Audlem at least 43 overs to chase down the target but with Jake revelling in an opportunity to open the batting just under half of them were needed as the hosts made light work of the run chase , losing just one wicket as Ben Salisbury ( 19 not out ) and Bertie Hardy ( 35 not out ) stroked the team to victory.

The Second X1 had a much tighter game away to Newcastle and Hartsill but managed to prevail on a very dodgy wicket in a low scoring encounter.

Newcastle won the toss and elected to bat first much to the Audlem skipper's relief.

The batsmen were struggling from the start as the unpredictable bounce and movement off the surface made batting very difficult.

All of Audlem's bowlers used the conditions to their advantage and restricted the hosts to 93 for 9 off their 40 overs. Ron Paul ( 2 for 11 ), Harry Measures ( 2 for 23 ). Dave Parkinson ( 2 for 25 ) Conor Howard ( Capt. ) ( 1 for 15 ) & Tom Measures ( 1 for 16 ) were the wicket takers with the other wicket via a run out from Harry. Audlem knew the run chase would not be easy and so it proved with a combination of a poor surface and some good bowling from the hosts the game was right in the balance until the conclusion.

The visitors were indebted to Tom Measures ( 23 off 86 deliveries ) & Dave Parkinson ( 35 off 61 deliveries ) for getting the team within sight of victory but it took Conor playing a true captain's innings to get his team over the line at the end to a narrow 2 wicket victory.

The following day Audlem welcomed Aston to the Gorse Croft and it proved to be another close encounter but this time Audlem were just edged out. losing by just 1 run in a high scoring contest.

Aston chose to bat first and were in trouble in the formative stages of the innings but a great recovery orchestrated mainly by Callum Pass with a fine unbeaten 65 to take his team to a challenging 207 for 9 at the tea interval . Wicket takers for Audlem were Harry Measures, Ryan Anderton, Alfie Hardy, Usman Ghani, Conor Howard and Dave Parkinson.

Bertie Hardy, Alfie Hardy and Tom Measures were the batsmen instrumental in getting the hosts into a challenging position and with a final push from Conor Howard and skipper Ollie Banfield the game was set up for a thrilling finish. Harry and Ryan almost got their team over the line with a valiant effort falling just one run short at the conclusion of the game.

All the detailed scorecards are shown on the club's play- cricket page alongside the season's fixtures .

click here:- Audlem CC

Next weekend Audlem second X1 are at home to Cheadle with the first team travelling to Church Eaton. The following day the Sunday X1 travel to Aston ( 1.30pm start ).