Audlem Cricket Cub Report

Rode Park near Alsager provided the setting for Audlem's North Staffs and South Cheshire League encounter on Saturday. The ground is situated in the parkland adjacent to Rode Hall and is one of the most picturesque venues in the area.
That didn't inspire Audlem on the day as they fell to their first defeat of the season, losing by the margin of 54 runs.

The hosts were invited to take first knock in unpleasant conditions with intermittent showers persisting throughout the proceedings. Audlem kept control of the scoring rate despite not being able to get amongst the wickets but stubborn opener Paul Chadwick carried his bat for a well made 74 which ultimately contributed greatly to Park's eventual victory.
The final total of 151 off their 40 overs looked challenging given the state of the pitch and saturated outfield making run scoring a laborious process.

Audlem did get off to a decent start in their quest but soon fell behind the rate required after losing both the prolific opening batsmen, Chris Shenton and Dan Butler with only 40 on the board. It was left to number three batsman Kemal Toraman (30) to try and get as close to the illusive target but a flurry of wickets fell in quick succession with only Callum McIlveen and Andrew Salmon able to keep him company for any meaningful length of time. When Kamal was eventually dismissed the task became insurmountable and the innings closed on 104 all out giving the hosts a well deserved victory.

Sunday's match was played in much improved conditions with the sun making a rare appearance throughout the afternoon. The game was in doubt during the morning with pools of standing water still lying on areas of the outfield but the pitch inspection at 12:30 pm passed the ground as fit for play. The opposition on the day were a young and talented Middlewich CC.

With a 2:00pm start time and the weather forecast predicting showers to return in the late afternoon the captains decided on a slightly truncated game of 35 overs per innings. Audlem won the toss and captain, Ollie Banfield made the decision to bat first on what looked a decent batting track. This looked like a good shout as opening batsman, Matthew Kenvyn made the most of the opportunity by racing to his 50 before retiring. Allrounder Dave Parkinson found his batting form with a well crafted 42 with assistance from Nick Hancock(14) and Usman Ghani(10) to post a competitive total of 162 for 7 off their allotted overs.

Audlem were in a confident mood at the interval as they had probably their best bowling attack of the season at their disposal with young opening pace bowlers Lauren Kenvyn ( 7 overs 1 for 25 )and George Walker ( 7 overs 3 for 16 ) leading the way. Middlewich had some excellent young batsmen in their ranks with Liam Clorley (28) , Evan Turner ( 50 retired not out ) & Reece Johnson (44) catching the eye but the host's miserly attack managed to keep a hold on the proceedings with the visitors unable to break the shackles at any stage of the innings. The game went right to the wire but Audlem eventually triumphed by 9 runs in a fine game of cricket.

Next Saturday Audlem play hosts to Wedgwood from Barlaston ( 1:00pm and on Sunday the visitors to The Gorse Croft are Lichfield Nomads ( 2:00pm )

John Wainwright ( Audlem Cricket Club )