Cricket success for Audlem

Audlem's cricketers again had plenty to celebrate over the weekend with victories over Sandbach on Saturday and coming out on top in a tight game away to Malpas.

Sunday XI vs Malpas

Sunday's game was reduced to 30 overs per team due to the high temperatures expected during the afternoon. Audlem were thankful for the decision after losing the toss and finding themselves in the field with the day at its hottest. Their bowlers stuck to their task with spinners Usman Ghani ( 39 for 4 ) & Dave Parkinson ( 14 for 3 ) being the stand out performers on the day and restricting the hosts to 142 for 9 off their allocation. Tom Lyes was the man in form with the bat with a fine knock of 67 not out.

Audlem's reply got off to a fine start with openers Martin Molloy ( 20 ) and Jack Allman ( 33) adding 44 for the first wicket but when they were dismissed the impressive young Malpas bowlers started to gain the upper hand. Eventually the batsmen started to take a few chances with the overs running out and with just 2.5 of the allotted allocation due crossed the line with 6 wickets down. Iddy Mohammed with 29 not out and Dave Parkinson with 27 were the form batsmen in the middle order.

Saturday XI vs Sandbach

Audlem also found themselves in the field the previous day after losing the toss in their home fixture with Sandbach. The bowlers again performed well in restricting scoring opportunities with only Luis Cuttle ( 44 off 32 deliveries ) showing any intent. Again the star bowler was Abhijith Jayan who bowled his 8 overs for only 12 runs whilst claiming 2 wickets with good support from Simon Swift, Ron Paul, Neil Humphries and Dave Parkinson. Sandbach's innings came to a close in the 39th over with the score on 144 all out.

Audlem had few concerns knocking off the required runs with Richard Wilson continuing his imperious form with another half century and fine support from Andy Rothwell ( 26 ) & Kemal Toraman (21 not out ) to bring the game to it's conclusion in the 31st over for the loss of 4 wickets.

The Audlem players were delighted to welcome back one of their old boys in Stu Elkes who now turns out for Sandbach and was watched for part of the game by his dad Allan who was a fine top order batsman for the club a few seasons back.

Next Weekend

Next Saturday the league team make the short journey up to Woore whilst the Sunday X1 welcome Wistaston to the Gorse Croft with both games scheduled for a 1.00pm start.

John Wainwright

Audlem Cricket Club