Cricket Reports – July 3rd/4th

Wicket preparation at the Gorse Croft

Saturday July 3rd v Porthill Park

from Chris Shenton

After a morning of heavy rain and lots more forecast throughout the day Audlem travelled to the scenic Scot Hay to take on Porthill Park 4ths with very little expectation of play. Upon arrival it appeared that Scot Hay has its own micro climate as the sun was out, the ground was dry and the opposition were ready to go!

Audlem skipper Chris Shenton won yet another toss and elected to field. With rain forecast (never materialised) the threat of Duckworth-Lewis made it an obvious decision. After 40 overs in the field it didn't look so obvious.

Porthill opener Ormes soo showed his intent and launched a couple of big shots into the nearby trees. He eventually tried one shot to many and was pinned LBW by opening bowler Mcilveen for a quick fire 22. Skipper Price soon followed, also to Mcilveen.

At this point Porthill really took control, Chorlton and Cotton built a well constructed and careful partnership of 80 to take Porthill past 100. Cotton departed for 39 and 3 more quick wickets fell, two more to Mcilveen who returned 4-22 from his 8 overs.

With overs running out Chorlton decided it was time to open his shoulders. He started to hit the ball to all parts of the ground. He quickly passed 50 and then in the last over of the innings he hit veteran spinner Neil Humphries for four mighty sixes to take himself to 89 not out and Porthill to a more than useful 185 for 7.

If Audlem were to chase this down it would take something special. At 111 for 7 it would take something of a miracle to get the Audlem team home but after last weeks thrilling win, this Audlem team doesn't know when it's beaten and something special was about to happen for the second week running. Knocks of 25 from Shenton and 28 from Mcilveen had been the main early contributions. However Audlem couldn't deal with young seamer Max Blurton who took 4 for 13 from his 7 overs to rip the Audlem top order apart.

When Mcilveen fell at 111 for 7, last week's unexpected batting hero Simon Swift entered to join keeper Dave Parkinson, still needing 75 for victory. With the temperature heating up on the pitch and the rain staying away the Audlem duo played some glorious counter attacking shots to put all the pressure on Porthill. Parkinson brought up his 50 with another textbook cover drive. With Audlem now on the verge of victory Swift despatched two pull shots to the boundary and handed the Audlem team another excellent victory. Swift finished on 29 not out and Parkinson 58 not out.

Audlem now sit second in the league, only three points off top spot. With the second half of the season about to get underway, Audlem have much to play for.

Sunday July 4th v Woore

from John Wainwright

Heavy showers appeared to have put paid to Audlem's trip up the A525 to Woore after Dan Perks the home skipper informed his counterpart that the ground was awash at 11:30am with little prospect of play. After a brief discussion it was decided to switch the fixture to The Gorse Croft which up to that point had escaped the rain affecting large parts of the area.

With Dan winning the toss and deciding to bat on a flat dry track a big score looked on the cards as Woore had many of their promising juniors in the squad. This proved to be the case with the stand out performers being Matthew Kenvyn ( retired not out 51 ) & Jake Topping (33 ) but skipper Perks ( retired 50 not out ) played a major part in batting through the bulk of the Woore innings before rain intervened . An early tea was taken and a reduction in overs was agreed in an attempt to complete the game. Woore finished on 194 for 8 off 35 overs with all the bowlers sticking to their task to restrict the runs and leave the batsmen with an achievable target . It was good to see youngsters David Cotterill and Ben Duncalfe back in the team after their prolonged football season finally came to an end and they bowled superbly to prevent the total becoming unattainable and claiming a couple of wickets in the bargain.

In reply Audlem found themselves in a spot of bother at 23 for 3 off only 6 overs but the strong middle order of Usman Ghani ( retired not out 52 ) Dave Parkinson (18 ) and Ollie Banfield ( 23 not out ) got the hosts to within striking distance of the target ( 147 for 6 off 28 overs ) before more persistent rain finally put paid to the proceedings. The Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method of finding a winner in a rain affected game was briefly discussed but with no mathematician of the required knowledge present in the ranks of either team the idea was quickly abandoned.

A great credit must go to all the players who tried their very best to get the game completed and almost succeeded with most games in the area called off without a ball bowled.

Next Week

Next weekend's opponents are (Saturday) Moddershall & Oulton CC away at Oulton and on Sunday Audlem are at home to Runcorn CC with a 12:00pm start time (brought forward to keep the football followers in the ranks happy)

Full details of all the games can be found on the clubs play-cricket webpage.

John Wainwright (Audlem Cricket Club)