Nail-biting win for Audlem on Sunday

First cricket report of the season

Audlem were soon back into their stride with a narrow nail biting one wicket victory over Acton Scott CC from South Shropshire on Sunday. Uncharacteristically skipper Ollie Banfield lost the toss and the visitors decided to make first use of a decent looking deck and a fast dry outfield.

The hosts got off to the best possible start with Connor Howard clean bowling the Acton Scott opening batsman second ball of the innings but a fine quickfire 48 run partnership between C.Holtz ( 21 ) & J. Woodhouse ( 36 ) brought the visitors back into the game . With both batsmen in a belligerent mood a large total looked on the cards but both fell victim to the bowling of Michael Burton and Bertie Hardy which slowed down the scoring rate. The spin department now had their turn to get amongst the opposing batsmen with Irfan Shiek (2 for 15 ) & Steve Neil ( 1for 16 ) doing the damage but the undoubted star of the show was 13 year old Annabelle Burton ( 5 overs 1 maiden 3 wickets for 13 runs ). A magnificent performance in only her second appearance for the Sunday X1 ... But her day was far from over yet ! The Acton Scott innings was concluded in the 32nd over with a sharp run out with the score of 130 which at the time looked decidedly under par.

Ollie decided to adjust his normal batting order to adapt to the small total but Acton Scott's bowlers soon started to pose some problems of their own and the home team were soon in deep trouble at 36 for 6 with opening bowler H.Key proving a handful with fine figures of 4 for 21 off his 8 overs. With the situation looking unpromising to say the least young Alfie Hardy was partnered by his elder brother Bertie in an attempt to salvage the situation. 66 runs later the game was back in the balance with Alfie eventually dismissed for a brilliant 42 with Bertie adding another 30 valuable runs.

With 9 wickets down and 22 runs still required an away victory was still the odds on favourite result. Seasoned allrounder Dave Parkinson bided his time and trusted his partner Annabelle Burton to defy the Acton Scott bowling attack. With the score on 127 and Annabelle on strike in the penultimate over the fourth ball was expertly guided down to the fine leg boundary to conclude a fine game of cricket. Dave kept his cool in the final stages and closed on a fine 18 not out.

A special mention to Captain Ollie Banfield who seems to have the knack of engineering tight games with a good percentage of victories to show for his efforts. He does so, often with scant regard for his own game constantly batting down the order always ensuring everyone is involved in proceedings. Audlem are very fortunate to have him at the helm.

Next week it is the turn of the Saturday team who entertain near neighbours, Onneley in a pre-season warm-up game at The Gorse Croft with a 1:00pm start time.