Sunday Cricket Club Report

Audlem's Sunday cricketers were again invited to be the opposition for Hodnet's President's Day celebrations

A 30 over game was agreed between the two captains with the hosts taking first knock. A fine opening stand of 57 between Matt Pooler and Harry Fiaz got Hodnet off to a good start but the introduction of young Jake Topping into the attack had the desired effect of removing the big hitting Matt Pooler for a quickfire 44. The star performers for Audlem with the ball were undoubtedly Andrew Burton ( 5 overs 2 for 10 ) & veteran spin bowler, Steve Neild ( 6 overs 4 for 36 ). The other wicket taker was Connor Howard as Hodnet closed their innings on 164 for 8.

A splendid tea was prepared by the host's catering team and a raffle held in which members of the Audlem contingent managed to bag some excellent prizes including tea for two at Fordhall Farm and a meal for two at The Bear Inn.

After the interval Audlem got down to business and managed to maintain the required scoring rate with opening pair Michael Burton ( 39 ) & Jake Topping ( 15 ) getting the innings off to a good start. Matt Furber ( 19 ) & Dave Parkinson ( 20 ) carried on the good work but the star of the show this week was Marcus Taylor who scored a fine unbeaten 46 to bring his team home for a 4 wicket win with 3 balls to spare.

A most enjoyable day was had by everyone and great credit must go to the Hodnet club for all the work and effort they put in to making the day a huge success.

The previous Sunday's game at Malpas saw Audlem suffer a rare defeat. The visitors were well beaten on the day by a good Malpas team with only Jake Topping ( 37 ), Michael Burton ( 21 ) and Andrew Burton ( 28 ) contributing any meaningful runs to the cause as they subsided to 114 all out. Malpas made short work of the below par total losing only 5 wickets in the reply and crossing the finish line in the 25th over of the allotted 35 . Wicket takers were Andrew Burton, Dave Parkinson & Jake Topping.

John Wainwright

Audlem Cricket Club