Toraman stars in 2nd XI victory over Rylands

What a difference a week makes!  Last Saturday night Audlem's 2nd XI cricketers were making the journey home from Appleton under a cloud of depression after being comprehensively beaten by the home team.  It was without doubt the worst performance of the season and everyone agreed that a more positive approach had to be taken by the batsmen in either setting challenging targets or chasing down runs set by the opposition.  How pleasing it was to entertain mid-table Rylands on Saturday and win in good style by 4 wickets.

In the ranks was all-rounder Kemal Toraman, who was unable to travel with the 1st XI due to work commitments.  Knowing Toraman had to leave before 6.00 pm, skipper John Wainwright made the trek out to the middle with the Rylands captain.  He was hoping that he would lose the toss yet again, safe in the knowledge that Audlem would be invited to bowl first.  This would ensure maximum points in the event of a win and get prime use of a quality player. Wainwright needn't have worried about the coin ceremony - practice makes perfect!

With the first part of the afternoon going to plan Audlem just had to hope that the threatened showers would keep away and that the visitors could be dismissed cheaply.  Opening the bowling, Toraman soon found the conditions to his liking on a hard, fast wicket.  He got his just rewards with four wickets in his 12 over spell, conceding just 22 runs. At the other end Dave Parry toiled away without success but made scoring runs difficult.

Roy Wild joined Dave Parry in the attack to try and remove Rylands’ belligerent number three, Nathan Lowe, who was trying to maintain as much of the strike as possible.  Gradually the bowlers were able to get at his passive partners and slowly work their way through them.  Wild bowled superbly – back to his best, to finish with commendable figures of 3 for 15 off 9 overs.  At the other end Parry had the satisfaction of removing Lowe, who was last man out, for a very fine 61 as Rylands’ innings closed on 123.

Everything seemed in control at the tea interval – a small total, plenty of overs to get the runs, a good batting wicket and a lightning fast outfield.  Toraman was padded up and ready to bat with plenty of time before he has to leave for work.... then down came the rain!  Luckily it was only a shower and didn't delay proceedings too long.   

A fine opening partnership of 44 between Toraman and Steve Broomfield set the innings up nicely.  Broomfield gave Toraman as much of the strike as possible to enable him to play some expansive shots to all corners of the ground.  Toraman was finally dismissed for 40 very valuable runs.

This had given Audlem the platform they needed.  Now it required some stability to reach the target. Asked to step down from his normal opening position, Zar Ahmed proved to be the man. Ahmed (30 not out) played probably his best innings of the season with some delightful strokes, especially his trademark late cuts.  He was ably supported by Leo North, who was dismissed for 12 just before the total was reached.  It was left to Paul Thorburn to hit the winning runs to complete a well-earned 4 wicket victory.

Audlem gained the maximum 25 points and Rylands 7.  The win means that the 2nd XI go above their opponents and move up to seventh place in Division 4.  In a very tight and competitive division this win might prove to be invaluable at the end of the season but, more importantly, it gave the team the 'feel good' factor again after last week's black Saturday.

On Saturday the 2nd XI travel to tenth-place Wilmslow Wayfarers for yet another vital match.

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