Cricket Match Report

As Audlem entertained Little Stoke 2 s in Week 9 all skipper Chris Shenton was hoping for was a straightforward game of cricket with little drama. After nail biting, seemingly impossible victories against Burslem, Silverdale and Kidsgrove, surely that wasn t too much to ask for the quickly ageing, already bald skipper ..surely ??

On a scorching day at Gorse Croft Shenton won the toss, and in true Ben Stokes style went against the norm and opted to field first, much to the dismay of his teammates. With a rapid outfield, short leg side boundary and a fresh track the skipper felt that no target was defendable.

Five overs into the Little Stoke innings Shenton was feeling completely vindicated. New new ball bowler Rahul, charging in downwind and downhill from the field end produced a devastating opening two overs, dismissing three of the Little Stoke top four with some unplayable deliveries. At 20-3 Audlem felt and early escape from the blinding heat was on the cards, however this is Audlem and it wasn t to be.

Fresh form a stint in the Little Stoke 1st Team, Karl Harvey led the recovery. With some admirable defence to start off he helped build the recovery. Ably supported by Mountain (17) and Brown (18) Harvey worked his way to a superb half century. When finally dismissed for 67 he had helped Little Stoke recover to 146-5 with more than 10 overs still in hand. If possible the outfield was getting quicker and the temperatures increasing. Audlem kept chipping away and took some great catches, Shentons diving away to his right at first slip the highlight, however Toby Hough kept finding the boundary at regular intervals. He raced to a quickfire 52 not out and suddenly Little Stoke had reached the giddy heights of 215 for 6 at the close of their innings. Rahul undoubtedly the pick of the Audlem bowlers but Swift 1-35 with some superb Gough like death bowling, Topping 1-27 in his new role as the Plunkett middle over enforcer and AJ s 1-31 with his Bumrah like opening spell ensured Audlem were very much in the game.

After a cold shower and a change of whites, Shenton and opening partner, the big hitting Venu made their way out to the middle. After a couple of lusty blows Venu tried one shot too many and holed out to long on. This bought Tom the wall Measures out to the middle to join his skipper. With some glorious cover drives, mainly from Measures and some agricultural hacking, mainly from the skipper Audlem worked there way to 79 at the first 15 over drink break. Feeling confident with just one wicket down and refreshed after some iced cordial skipper Shenton stride back to the middle, determined to guide his team closer to victory. One ball later and he was striding the other way, somehow bowled by a gentle full toss that clipped the top of the stumps. He was still shaking his head some hours later at the calamitous mode of dismissal. In form Dave Blatho Blatherwick joined the wall and together they played some sublime cricket. Hitting the ball to all parts of the Croft, Audlem raced to 133. Just two wickets down and still 15 overs remaining Audlem were raving to a comfortable victory. Again, this is Audlem .Measures bowled, Hardy caught on the longest boundary first ball, Blatho spectacularly caught and bowled, previous battting hero Rahul bowled swap 133 for 1 and replace with 160-6. Run rate increasing and Audlem still needed 56 to win with just four wickets in hand. Enter Irfan the little master Sheik. With his normal elegant stroke play and rapid running between the wickets, it again looked like Audlem would take a comfortable victory. However when he was bowled and Young gun Topping was undone by some witchcraft like legspin Audlem were 8 down still needing another 21. Old head, batting, bowling and wicket keeping all rounder Dave Parky Parkinson was still at the crease and together with AJ, the best number 10 in the league they took Audlem to the brink. Scores level and nine balls remaining it was game over, or was it???? Dot, Dot, dropped catch meant the game somehow went into the last over, yet again. Thankfully this time it didn t make it to the last ball. A chancy single, a missed shy at the stumps and Audlem has chased down 215 with 5 balls to spare and two wickets in hand. Comfortable, very very comfortable .. Shenton 31, Blatho 37, Measures, 37, Sheikh 28 and Parkinson 22 not out all helping Audlem reach their target.

Audlem remain top of Div 4, skipper Shenton survives another week and Audlem move on to play Church Eaton on Saturday, rumours are it s quite some trek, only 21 points will help the long journey home