2nd XI 'oldies' hold on for a draw at Rylands

The 2nd XI travelled to Warrington missing several regular players and with only three recognised bowlers to take on fifth-place Rylands and came away with an honourable draw in their Division 4 match.

Skipper John Wainwright lost the toss and the home team decided to bat first. Roy Wild and Dave Parry opened the bowling for Audlem and made an immediate impact. Parry bowled Gary Moors without a run on the board. Sean Peters and Wes Jenkins then rebuilt the innings until the score had reached 32 and Wild dismissed Peters via Tim Ruscoe's slip catch. When Wild then bowled Jenkins with a beautiful delivery that clipped the top of the stumps and Parry trapped Andy Lowe lbw Rylands were struggling on 35-4.

The veteran duo continued to wreak mayhem and soon Rylands were 73-6 and a low score was on the cards. This is when things started to go wrong for Audlem and the lack of bowling options began to tell. Peter Hulme clubbed 55 as Rylands reached a daunting 157 before Wild mopped up the innings. Wild finished with 5 for 54 and Parry 3 for 56.

In reply, openers Steve Bromfield and Zar Ahmed had to adopt a cautious approach against Rylands' excellent pair of opening bowlers who bowled superbly. Audlem never really threatened to get to the required total because of the excellence of the bowling and because the batsmen simply didn't take the singles when they were available. When you consider the fact that there were six players over the age of 55 in the Audlem batting line up, the lack of singles is probably understandable!

Leo North was the best batsman with an enterprising knock of 30. Steve Elsmore (14), Parry (13 not out) and Jacob Rowe (12 not out) were the others who reached double figures as Audlem ended up on 129-6 in a slow and uneventful innings.

Next Saturday the 2nd XI welcome Wilmslow Wayfarers to the Gorse Croft. Wayfarers lie in eighth place in Division 4, one place above Audlem. The match starts at 2.00 pm.

By the way, just in case you are wondering, the photograph is not of last Saturday's team!

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