Audlem take on Maritime

Audlem's promotion hopes were dented on Saturday after they were soundly beaten at leaders Maritime by 5 wickets.

Stanway was able to call on virtually his strongest XI for the fixture with Ronnie Farnell returning for the visit to Merseyside and Audlem even had a 12th man with the presence of the Amsterdam based Dennis Smits, who was on a scouting trip for the Netherlands national side.

After an arduous trip which included several of Andy Rothwell's favourite poems, the side arrived in dribs and drabs at around 1.00pm to a sunny, if a little breezy, Maritime CC.

Stanway won his first toss since the Industrial Revolution and elected to bat given the good conditions but Audlem were soon up against it at 7-2 with both the Skipper and Rothwell back in the hutch for 4 and 2 respectively.

Rajeevan's pace was causing the visiting batsmen plenty of trouble and a Test Match dismissal for Stanway saw Simon Swift later applying a second arm guard. Wilson (10), Farnell (4), and Toraman (11) all fell bowled to the left-armer and left the Bunsey Bank outfit rocking at 46-5.

Kural (1) gave Shetty his first wicket by chipping to backward point and a vintage Audlem collapse was in full swing by 2.30pm.

The enigma that is Qhama Matthews showed his prodigous talent with a well made 25 which included several sumptous on drives but just as he had seen off the dangerous Rajeevan he was bowled by his replacement, the elusive Alagiah Suthakaran.

However, Stanway's decision to reverse the tail was beginning to look a shrewd one as Banfield (10*) and Mcilveen (20) added 36 for the 7th wicket taking Audlem past three figures. Unfortunately Mcilveen's demise led to a collapse of 1 run for 3 wickets as the visitors were all out for a below par 110.

Lunch was an excellent array of hot and cold snacks which included chicken bites, chips, jam doughnuts and a sandwich selection Andy Capper would have been proud of. A solid 7.5/10 was the official verdict later submitted.

Maritime were in mood to hang about which played in to Audlem's favour and Simon Swift was able to pick up several early wickets as he celebrated the start of his summer holidays. At 29-3 and then 34-4 Stanway and his team believed an unexpected victory was on the cards with Mcilveen toiling away for no reward as Swift did the damage at the other end.

The home batsmen continued to play postively and they knew one partnership would be enough for victory. Haron, already with one 50 to his name vs Audlem this season, again displayed his credentials with an excellent 45*.

His Sri Lankan counterpart Jayawardena chipped in with a handy 15* in an unbroken 50 run stand which saw the home side across the line with more than 20 overs to spare and the full 25 points.

Swift returned 5-36 as the other bowlers went wicketless.

After the game we spoke to Stuart Stanway who said: '"t's a really disappointing loss as today was a great chance to blow the top 3 wide open. As it is, we're left playing catch up as our batsmen haven't performed again. Having said that, there is still plenty of cricket to be played so I think we've still got a good chance".

Audlem took 7 points from the match.

On Saturday Audlem play host to Bowdon Vale and will look to avenge their 3 run defeat earlier in the season. On Sunday Audlem host their old adversaries Holmes Chapel in the T20 Cup Semi-Final which promises to be a sell out.

This weekend is set to be an emotional one as Richard 'Wich' Wilson plays his last games for the club before departing to Madrid.

His exit is already shrouded in controversy after an incident last Saturday in Nakatcha involving a female under 18 being approached by a member of the club's playing staff was brought to the attention of Chairman Paul Thornburn.

An Emergency Commitee Meeting, the 72nd this season, has been hastily arranged with a date TBA.

After weeks of legal wrangling we are delighted to announce Qhama Matthews has arranged for our end of season party to be sponsored by LaserQuest following a trial run last Sunday in which his backside was hit no less than 718 times in just 90 minutes.

Stay tuned to the club's social media for more updates through the week.

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.