Stanway To The Rescue

Audlem were indebted to an excellent 88 from Captain Stuart Stanway on Saturday as they got back to winning ways at home to Birkenhead based Old Parkonians.

Victory was just the the tonic after two disappointing defeats on the road at Bowden Vale and Frodsham in recent weeks with a depleted team.

At the weekend though, Stanway was able to recall Toraman, Mcilveen and Farnell from the side that lost last week and after winning the toss on a new pitch he decided to have a bat in warm conditions.

Andrew Rothwell did little to quash rumours his new found bowling prowess is affecting his batting when he was caught at slip from the first ball of the match chasing a wide one in a manner highly uncharacteristic of his usually circumspect approach.

Farnell chopped on soon after, and at 6 – 2 Audlem were in a bit of mither when Richard Shenton walked to the crease to join remaining opener Stanway. Both batsmen displayed a cool temperament in moving the home side back to parity and the home side's skipper led the counter attack with several classy looking cover drives for 4.

His partner was more watchful by comparison and some tight bowling saw the run rate tick along at around 3 an over as the partnership nudged toward the 3 figure mark. Wilson was to perish lbw for a determined 21 to the impressive Westwater as Audlem's middle order was exposed.

Not for the first time this season, a 'Calypso Collapso' ensued as numbers 5 to 9 went down like a pack of cards with not one batsman able to record double figures.

Stanway was now motoring along at the other end however, and began to accelerate after recording his first 50 of the league season, striking one Beckett full toss in to the next field for 6. The same bowler was soon to have his revenge though, finally bowling the home side's captain for a classy 88 with the score at 125-7 and 13 overs still remaining.

To give that some context, six overs before they were 90-3. A vital 16* from Humphries got the score up to 150 for another batting point but there the innings concluded when Swift was bowled to record Audlem's second duck of the day.

Rothwell looked markedly more cheerful after Old Parkonians also lost one of their batsmen caught behind in the opening over to Mcilveen's probing length outside off stump. Fellow opener Ian Smith remained bullish but his next two partners also disappeared for ducks as the slim Johnny Vegas took two in two with Wilson doing well not to jib a catch in the covers.

Used to working in tandem on and off the field Swift, like Mcilveen, was soon on a hat – trick himself bowling Nedugoden for 11 and trapping Hitchell lbw for 0 to leave the visitors in all kinds of trouble at 30-5 still way short of their target.

Mcilveen finally removed the obdurate Smith for 18 to claim his fourth wicket with the pitch offering appreciable movement for his excellent line and lengths and Swift soon had his 3rd bowling Beckett for 1.

45-7 and it looked to be game, set, and match to the home side. Adam Westwater, who had earlier taken 5-42, was in no mood to go down without a fight and he joined force with Robert 'The shoulders' Marnick for an invaluable partnernship of 35 which had Stanway beginning to panic.

Marnick in particular hit several big blows as he showed that often, attack is the best form of defence.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man: Neil Humphries, never far from the limelight, moved at a speed which belied his 50 years to dismiss Marnick on the third man boundary with an outstanding diving catch.

It was the breakthrough Audlem needed and now Westwater looked to marshal the strike with just the tail left which ultimately cost Old Parkonians their 9th wicket. Tom 'Pob Bob' Kural swooped in from mid-off to cut out a quick single and despite a wayward throw to Stanway the pair did just enough to run out Berkson and put Audlem on the brink of victory.

The following over saw Ronnie Farnell pick up his first League wicket for the Club, bowling Tucker for 6 to leave Westwater stranded on 32* as his side were all out for 86 as Audlem won by 64 runs and took 25 points. Mcilveen and Swift took 4-29 and 4-49 respectively.

Speaking after the game from Indian Restaurant Naaz, in Nantwich, man of the match Stuart Stanway said he was delighted with the win: "The performance didn't matter too much as today we just needed to get some points on the board.

"It was satisfying to score some runs," he added, "but the middle order is definitely becoming a concern. Luckily Cal (Mcilveen) bowled as well as I've seen him bowl and Si (Swift) backed him up superbly. I wasn't sure what to expect with the pitch but 150 probably proved above par in the end".

Next week the 1sts are away at Knutsford.

A reminder to anyone that hasn't paid their subs the price has now increased by £10 as you have missed the end of May cut off. Nets will be on Tuesday night and on Thursday the Phoenix team travel to Bignall End, who were the winners of the recent Crewe Audi T20 Tournament.

Simon Swift was last seen in Nakatcha drinking Jagermeister through a funnel, Callum Mcilveen has been sizing up Crewe's new Hungry Horse pub after purchasing a property in the local area and Tom Kural is set to miss out on next week's T20 fixture after hiring out a local Costa for the afternoon.

Andy Rothwell gave The Leopard a wide berth on Saturday night and was instead rumoured to be urgently photocopying a permission slip as the news broke of three fixtures in four days next weekend. Moves to bring ex-Captain Chris Shenton back to the Club have so far been rebuffed.

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.