Now that's how to win a game of cricket

After a weekend without cricket due to a concession, Audlem 2nd X1 travelled to a wet, grey and dull Appleton with the hope of playing never looked promising. However the continuous rain was never heavy enough to stop play.

After some confusion of where the pitch was and a steady two mile walk to locate the opposition, the toss was made. Appleton won the toss and elected to field, which due to the conditions seemed the obvious choice.

With regular opener J Wainwright delayed due to the lack of efficiency at the local airfield, D. Thorburn stepped up to join Ahmed at the crease. With the pitch providing a surprising amount of bounce, openers D. Thorburn and Ahmed started well, scoring over 5 an over.

However after 8 overs opening bowlers Ormson and Lancaster provided a good spell of pressure. After a risky single, Ormson hit the stumps to run out D.Thorburn (21) and the opposition were hoping this to be the break-through they needed.

With some clean hitting from Banfield (29), who was eventually out by an excellent catch, the score was at 73 . After some steady batting by Ahmed and Jones, Audlem had 8 Wickets remaining which gave the remaining batsmen the freedom with the final 10 overs remaining, and 157 runs on the board.

As Jones' acceleration led him (41), Mottershead received a beauty to dismiss him for 0. Juniors Reg.Farnell (9) and C.Hine (8) supported Ahmed with some excellent batting and so did the ever young J. Wainwright (2) and Audlem finished on 206-7 with an excellent team performance and with Ahmed shining on 70 not out, as his beloved Audi was in the cards as P. Thorburn promised if he ever was to achieve the fate of half a century.

With 207 runs required for the win, opening batsmen Venshaka hit the boundary rope first ball. With Mottershead looking for revenge on the savage Venshaka, he started his bowling with consistent full length bowling. After a few wild swipes by Venshaka, Mottershead his wicket, who was off stump fishing which was guided by an inside edge onto his own wickets.

Mottershead took the first three batsmen for only 15 runs on the board. As Woodcock and Mottershead came into the attack two more wickets fell, with only 43 runs created. The short bowling spells of Mottershead, Hine, Farnell and Woodcock bought regually wickets with no highlights for the batsmen.

With some fantastic fielding from the youngsters, Farnell with a superb catch at square leg, and four catches from Hine in the covers. Hine finished off Audlem's fantastic display with an in-swinging yorker to dismiss Ormson, which left Appleton 82 all out. Audlem won by 124 runs in a commanding victory.

Highlights of the game have to come from the superb bowling from Mottershead (12 overs, 4-20), the ever reliable Woodcock (8 overs, 3-26), fantastic bowling and fielding from R. Farnell and C. Hine who collectively bowled 3 wickets and took 5 catches.....and last but not least the unbeaten Ahmed on 70* whose Audi has now been cancelled due to a drop catch at fine leg. However, this will be reinstated with a similar batting display this Saturday.

Audlem 2nd X1 then face Bowden Vale at home, and look to continue their early good run of form.

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