Cricket Report

Cricket Report

Saturday June 7 Audlem CC .v. Hem Heath CCSunday June 8 Audlem Sunday X1 .v. Crewe Vagrants

Saturday's game against Hem Heath was largely determined by the inclement weather around on a day when winning the toss was all important with the eventual outcome in most of the contests within the region.

This proved the case at The Gorse Croft as the visiting captain called incorrectly at the toss of the coin. Skipper Dave Blatherwick had no hesitation in asking Hem Heath to bat and with only five overs play possible before the promised rain break arrived the visitors were 20 without loss.

The prolonged interruption was instrumental in the final outcome as 17 overs were lost from the game in which all were deducted from the second innings.

This meant that Audlem had only 23 overs available in their reply but the actual total set by Hem Heath would be reduced to the scoring rate per over. On resumption of play the visitors struggled to make any headway against Audlem's strong bowling unit with Abhijith Jayan bowling 6 overs 1 for 19 , Jake Topping 2 for 22 off 8, Vijayan Rahul 2 for 22 off 8, Dave Parkinson a wicket off his only delivery to end the innings and Simon Swift with an excellent spell of bowling to finish with 7 overs 4 maidens 3 for 4 ( the remaining wicket was a run out ).

Hem Heath closed on 80 all out in the 31st over with only Callum Lovatt ( 26 ) and Elliot Rogerson (19 ) reaching double figures. This meant that Audlem's target was now reduced to only 45 in the 23 overs available due to the run rate calculation whereby the only issue would be the ever-threatening rain clouds still present in the vicinity.

With this in mind the skipper made sure his ' pinch hitters' were brought to the fore to quickly close proceedings and bring the game to a speedy conclusion. Vijayan had a field day and unleashed his whole repertoire of shots to finish on 33 not out off only 21 deliveries well supported by Venu with a more measured14 off 14 balls received.

Audlem only needed 5.5 overs to overhaul the total without loss and claim maximum points which puts them at the top of the division with seven games played.

On Sunday Audlem played host to near neighbours Crewe Vagrants who brought a strong X1 who were all regular league players. The hosts were invited to bat on a more settled day weather wise and made steady progress with Andy Jackson scoring his third unbeaten half century of the season followed by Usman Ghani ( 51 retired not out ) and valuable contributions from Jake Topping ( 13 ), Adil Mahmood ( 36 ) and Rambo Bhukari ( 18 ).

Audlem closed on 209 for 7 off their allocation with Matthew Whittingham claiming 2 for 20 for the Vagrants.

The Vagrant's reply was fronted by a father and son combination of Richard and Ben Jervis, both scoring unbeaten half centuries with both batsmen entertaining those present with some delightful strokes. The target was reached with five overs to spare with the loss of 7 wickets. Young Alfie Hardy was the top bowler on the day with 2 for 40 off his 6 overs.

Next Saturday Audlem travel to Kidsgrove and the following day the Sunday X1 play hosts to Malpas CC with both games scheduled to start at 1.00pm