Parry puts leaders to the sword

On Saturday Audlem 2nd XI welcomed Wilmslow to the Gorse Croft. Wilmslow were riding high at the top of the league, but came down to earth with a bump as they were soundly beaten by 8 wickets. Dave Parry was the architect of the victory as he ripped through the visitors' top order.

On a cold, wet, blustery afternoon returning skipper Danny Thorburn won the toss and had little hesitation in inviting the visitors to bat, a decision that was quickly vindicated. The potentially dangerous Adnan Bajwa was stumped by Leo North from Roy Wild's third ball and fellow-opener Simon Oakley (14) perished to John Eve's smart slip catch off the bowling of Dave Parry to leave Wilmslow at 22 for 2.

Parry battled gamely into the buffeting wind and the two spinners tied down the experienced Mike Harding and skipper Andy Metzelaar with bowling that was amazingly accurate considering the appalling conditions.

Metzelaar (15) holed out to Danny Thorburn fielding at his specialist short long-off position and Harding eventually went lbw for a painstaking 9. Shortly afterwards Pallav Kant became Parry's fourth victim, trapped lbw without troubling the scorer.

At 45 for 5 and overs ticking away fast the lower order batsmen had little choice but to desperately hit out at Maj Ullah and Reg Farnell, who had relieved the weather-beaten Parry and Wild. The rain interruptions meant one over lost from each side's batting allocation but after 32 overs the scoring rate had still not gone above two per over.

Despite recent knee trouble Oliver Pickup hit a belligerent 14 and Adrian Rowe saw out the innings with an attractive 31 not out. For the last few overs he was joined by his young son Dominic who proudly survived two overs from the wily Wild.

Between them Parry (4 for 23) and Wild (2 for 22) delivered more than 50% of their 29 overs in maidens. Wilmslow's innings closed at 115 for 7 after 44 overs but the experiences of the past few weeks warned the Audlem side that this was a total not to be underestimated in such difficult conditions.

Wilmslow took to the field wearing as many sweaters as they could lay their hands on but, despite the sticky outfield, a biting wind and soaking wet grass, John Wainwright and Zar Ahmed started confidently.

Zar started the brighter and put behind him an uncharacteristic poor start to the season with three sparkling fours in the first three overs. Wainwright then started to hit form and Zar took his more accustomed anchor role as they laid the foundation for victory with an excellent stand of 65 before Wainwright played on for 27.

This brought Maj Ullah to the crease. In his first innings since his unbeaten century at the end of last season, Maj by-passed the tricky ground conditions with some brutal aerial shots and blasted a confident 37 not out with trade-mark ferocity. With the score on 95, Zar (32) fell to an outstanding catch.

Skipper Thorburn (6 not out ) joined Maj, to see the match through to the end as Audlem finished on 116 for 2. Maj hit four 4's, the only 3 of the day and two sixes, the last of which won the game and with unerring accuracy found the roof of your correspondent's car.

The resulting 20 points now leave Audlem in third place in Division 4 in a top three that are separated by a mere six points. Wilmslow gained 5 points to remain second. Tomorrow the 2nd XI hope for more clement weather, when Stretton 2nd XI are the visitors with a 1.30pm start.

To see the full score card on the Cheshire Alliance website, click here

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