Thriller on the Mersey

On Saturday, Audlem 2nd XI travelled to the 2012 Best Kept Large Village in Cheshire to take on Frodsham 2nd XI.

What ensued was a thrilling game of cricket that was a credit to both sides and the outcome of which was in doubt to the very end. Highs and lows, a game played in an excellent spirt, two teams slugging it out for any advantage all combined to make this the best game of the season so far.

Confronted by a wicket the colour of apple flavoured mega sours, Danny Thorburn was again happy to lose the toss and Frodsham chose to bat on a surface that gave the bowlers every confidence.

Balls coming through at head height were followed by shooters and the very first ball of the innings gave a taste of things to come as Stuart Elkes jagged one back six inches to remove the unfortunate Graham.

With fellow opener Charlie Hine producing good swing the home side did well to survive many dangerous deliveries whilst ensuring anything loose was seized upon. Friday's rain however had encouraged lush growth of the outfield and scoring was proving difficult with only Burgess (23) and Ellis (18) making it into double figures but the hosts did very well to reach a total of 97 all out which would probably have been worth twice that at the Gorse Croft.

The five (!) strike bowlers all impressed, sharing the wickets between them, Elkes taking 2-12, Hine 2-11, Slack 1-16, Reg Farnell 2-12 and Rob Mottershead 2-16.

Surprisingly Lyndon Woodcock, leading wicket-taker with 20 wickets so far this season, decided to imitate an ordinary bowler and finished wicketless. Four good catches were taken by James Hindle, Danny Thorburn and Stuart Elkes (2) and a comical run-out ensured the Frodsham innings finished 3 short of the psychological 100.

Accompanied by the endless din of the adjacent M56, sandwiched between the Cricket ground and the River Mersey, openers Danny Thorburn and Zar Ahmed made a circumspect start, exactly the right strategy against good bowling on a less than trustworthy pitch.

Whereas last week they had hit 59 off the first ten overs this was a different affair as 18 hard-earned runs were compiled. Zar then fell uncharacteristically driving to extra cover for 9 and Danny (7) to gully at 23-2 but the reassuring presence of James Hindle gave Dave Slack leeway to smack a swift 18 before a misunderstanding led to Hindle's run out (4), having moved the score on to 45.

A flurry of wickets saw the end of Slack (18), Mottershead (4) and Elkes (1), the latter commendably walking after the slightest edge to the keeper, and 52-6 left the game very much in the balance.

Reg Farnell and Charlie Hine were quickly recalled from their tree-climbing to enable Reg to partner Paul Thorburn in a little and large partnership, the highlight of which was a sprawling headlong dive from Chairman Paul to regain his ground after a doubtful call.

Paul then perished in the deep for a typically ebullient 7 and at 63-7 Frodsham were now the clear favourites. Leo North, fresh from his unbeaten 0 the previous week, calmly set about supporting his (53 year-younger) partner who was playing with a maturity beyond his years.

Together they inched the score slowly forward but at 77 North (3) departed run out to an excellent piece of fielding and the nerves were now jangling.

With every run priceless, Lyndon Woodcock entered the fray. Having held back in his bowling, Lyndon proved his all-rounder status with 3 lusty blows that would have been boundaries on his own lovingly nurtured ground but here they only brought twos and unavoidable running.

Having secured 16 invaluable runs together Reggie was then dramatically caught at extra cover by Ellis who thrust an Inspector Gadget-like arm skywards and brilliantly clutched a ball heading for the boundary. 93-9, 5 to win!

Reg had fallen for a match-changing 20 but the value of batting throughout the team was underlined by Audlem's other 13-year-old Charlie Hine striding to the crease. He immediately struck an important psychological blow by hitting his first ball straight back to the bowler who promptly spilled the difficult chance.

The Easy Jet passengers gazing out of the windows little suspected the drama unfolding a few hundred metres below them as they glided serenely into nearby John Lennon Airport and Charlie managed to squeeze his next ball to third man for two. 95-9, overs gone (39) immaterial, the game up for grabs....

As opening bowler Rogers tested Lyndon with his next four balls, fellow team mates were fearing the famous reverse sweep but instead, from the fifth, Lyndon slashed the ball to third man. As Charlie turned for the third run that would win the game Lyndon turned for his second.

None of this was necessary however as the cheers from the boundary signalled that the ball had agonisingly trickled to the rope. 10 not out to the all-rounder and a priceless 2 for Charlie. The Audlem players, nerves shredded, departed to the nearby Bear's Paw where two of the day's heroes happily continued their tree climbing.

No-one gave a thought to the fact that this was Audlem's seventh victory in seven games. This was a low-scoring classic that everyone contributed to and didn't deserve a losing side. It seems unfair that Frodsham should only gain seven points in a game to which they had contributed so much.

The twenty-five points gained that could so easily have been only six enabled Audlem to maintain the 21 point lead at the top of the table before the visit of Sandbach 3rd XI this Saturday.

A mismatch of a cup final or an afternoon shopping seem a poor alternative when a day's cricket like this can be experienced!

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