Cricket Reports

Audlem 1st Away to Sandbach

Audlem's away day blues continued as they succumbed to a six wicket defeat at the hands of Sandbach CC on Saturday.

After winning the toss and electing to bat they were soon in a spot of bother after losing prolific opener Dan Butler without scoring but the damage was contained with the next four batsmen all contributing well ( Andy Rothwell 25 , Stuart Stanway 25 , Chris Shenton 24 & Dave Parkinson 31) but the telling factor was that none were able to push on to a big score and maintain the momentum required.

After a flurry of quick wickets Callum McIlveen ( 25 ) steadied the ship with the lower order keeping him company and Neil Humphries adding an entertaining 15 not out to complete the 40 overs with Audlem finishing on a competitive 190 for 9

Sandbach's reply got off to the worst possible start with two batters back in the pavilion in the second over but that was as good as it got for the visitors as opener Chris Jones ( 55 ) & skipper Paul Jackson ( 93 ) came together for a match winning partnership of 120. On Jones's dismissal Nathan Lewis ( 22 not out ) made sure their were no late heroics from the fielding side.

A well timed chase from the hosts brought up the winning runs with 13 balls of the innings remaining. Simon Swift was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2 for 39 off his 7.5 overs.

Sunday Team

The Sunday team maintained their 100% record with a victory over Wistaston CC by the margin of 61 runs. In what has now become a custom Audlem won the toss and again decided to bat on a good looking surface.

The home batsmen soon got the innings up and running scoring at a run a ball throughout with valuable contributions coming from Tom Forster ( 50 retired not out ), Dan Perks ( 22 ) Joel Gibson ( 45 ) & Shayan Hussain ( 53 retired not out ) to post 240 for 6 off the 40 overs.

Wistaston put up a valiant effort to overhaul the total but lost valuable wickets at key stages in the reply to prevent them gaining any momentum.

Young opening bowler Jake Topping removed three early order batsmen bowling a good line & length at express pace complemented by Taz Hussain (proprietor of Ayaans ) keeping things quiet at the other end.

Wistaston found no respite with the change of bowling as young leg spinner Joel Gibson and Kasim Ahmed maintained the grip on the scoring rate whilst taking wickets along the way.

A fine innings from visiting skipper J. Allwood who finished on 55 not out made sure the fielding side had their share of looking for lost balls in the surrounding pasture and hedgerows and bring his team home to a creditable 179 for 9 at the conclusion of the game.

Next Matches

Next week Audlem's league team play hosts to old friends and neighbours from Woore on Saturday whilst their counterparts on Sunday are again at home. This time they entertain visitors from Burton CC near Chester. Both games start at 1.00pm

note:- The scorecards for both games can be found on https://audlem.play-cricket.com/home complete with all forthcoming fixtures.

John Wainwright

Audlem Cricket Club