Rothwell Can't Save Audlem

Audlem fell to their third defeat of the 2015 season at Frodsham on Saturday and continued their miserable run of form in the league.

With the amount of unavailable players across both the 1st and 2nd in to double figures, Paul Thorburn and James Hindle were late additions to the starting XI. Stanway won the toss and chose to bowl in excellent conditions but on a very green pitch.

Elkes and Swift took the new ball as they looked to make early inroads and Andy Rothwell could already be seen loosening up at slip after his bowling exploits in The Phoenix on Thursday night.

It was Swift who made the early breakthrough bowling Williamson but this did little to stem the early tide of runs as the home side made their way serenely to 41-1 from the first 9 overs. The introduction of Humphries allowed the visitors to regain some control and a period of pressure saw Tom Stafford execute an excellent run out from the covers.

At the other end bowling all-rounder Qhama Matthews was gaining appreciable seam movement from the track which saw him pick up his solitary wicket as the home side's run rate dropped to 3 an over.

Finally, it was the turn of the Golden Arm Andrew Rothwell to wreak havoc on the home side after he was given the nod by Stanway. Often used as a Sunday bowler the Bolton lad credits work with Mushtaq Ahmed over the winter as being the catalyst for his new found bowling prowess.

At 100-3 with 15 overs left Warburton began to lead the assault for Frodsham and monstered Humphries for one huge 6 over cow corner.

Audlem needed wickets and saw several chances go down as tempered frayed. Johnson, (25) and Wilkinson (24),added support as the home side looked to accelerate but Rothwell had other other ideas and combined with Stanway for the first of 3 stumpings. He claimed a caught and bowled soon after as wickets began to tumble but Warburton remained unfazed in reaching his 50 as the runs continued to flow.

Frodsham moved past 150 in to the final few overs and Rothwell took another two wickets to return 4-36 as the home side finally closed on 160-9.

Audlem made a solid start in reply and reached 34-0 before Wilson (4) chipped to square leg. Rothwell built on his unbeaten 60* in The Phoenix with a dashing 23 but the middle order crumbled to 59-5. Swift (14), Stanway (5) and Stafford (1) all fell in quick succession to leave Audlem still over a 100 runs shy of victory.

Kural (8) added 20 with Matthews for the 5th wicket before he was caught and Humphries (9) managed to add another 24 with the South African but with just the tail to come 161 looked a stretch too far.

Matthews played well for his 29 but once he had snicked behind Audlem's hopes looked to have gone with him and they succumbed to 120 all out, 41 runs short of victory.

After the game Stu Stanway said he was 'disappointed' and blamed several key absences for his side's demise: "We bowled and fielded well given the circumstances but unfortunately batted like a bunch of buffoons, myself included.

"We have a few to come back in (to the side) so I'm still feeling confident about the rest of the season".

Next Saturday, the 1sts are at home to Old Parkonians in a 1.30pm start.

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