Audlem 2nd XI in second Spot

Audlem seconds consolidate second spot

Audlem 2nd XI travelled to the picturesque ground of Eccleshall last weekend and were able to avenge the defeat they had suffered in the second game of the season at the Gorse Croft. Observing the suspicious nature of the pitch Chris Shenton went against everything he believed in and for the first time in many years invited the hosts to bat despite having won the toss.

The home team's young openers accumulated 40 runs from the first 10 overs but after that were tied down to such an extent that at drinks (20 overs) the score had only moved on by a further 12 runs. This was due to the accuracy of Charlie Hine, 5 overs for 3 runs and Simon Swift 6 overs for 9 runs.

After drinks the wickets started to tumble, mostly to left arm spinner Ben Mogg, freshly returned from working for two years in the cricketing wasteland that is France. His brilliant 8-25 (12 overs) included his first genuine hat-trick -- a brilliant catch in the deep from skipper Shenton, a stumping from keeper Leo North and his third victim clean bowled.

Interestingly none of these batsmen were facing their first ball and the first reader to work out how this happened is entitled to free seat in the grandstand at the next home game (tea included). Eccleshall finished on 106 all out, with Simon Swift also claiming 2-20.

Audlem's batsmen refused to be seduced by the conservatories or large windows of the neighbouring cottages on the boundary that provided such tempting targets and eased their way to the required total in 21 overs with sensible batting showing that the pitch had in fact held few terrors all along. Danny Thorburn (15), Charlie Hine (37, with four consecutive fours at one point) and unbeaten innings of 16 from Ronnie Farnell and 18 from Atiq Hashmi were the major contributors in the 6 wicket victory.

On Sunday the team look forward to testing themselves against the unbeaten runaway league leaders when they travel to Moddershall.

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.