Parry stars in exciting draw against Norbury

The 2nd XI entertained Norbury at the Gorse Croft on July 9th, with the match finishing in an exciting draw, which either side could have won.  

Norbury won the toss and elected to bat first. Dave Parry and Graeme Jones opened the bowling for Audlem. Both had early success to leave the visitors in trouble at 20 for 3.  Roy Wild joined Parry and soon Norbury were in dire straits at 33 for 6. 

However, Jem Lloyd, playing his first game for five years, began an inspired fightback. He began cautiously before going on the attack against the spinners. The Norbury tail enders battled valiantly and  Lloyd was able to develop significant partnerships for the seventh, eighth and ninth wickets. Audlem did no favours to themselves by dropping Lloyd three times, as he took full toll of these lapses and bludgeoned his way to an unbeaten 61. This enabled the final score to  be a respectable 147 all out, with the last four wickets adding 114 runs.  Parry was the best bowler for Audlem taking 5 for 62.

Audlem’s reply began disastrously when Steve Broomfield was dismissed in the first over. Andy Jinks and Zar Ahmed consolidated briefly, but with the score on 23, Jinks was caught. Jones and Dave Priest followed quickly and suddenly Audlem were 26 for 4 and in deep trouble.  Danny Thorburn and Ahmed consolidated for a while before Thorburn was run-out with the score on 50.  The game was very much in Norbury's hands with 98 still required for victory.

Then came the fightback. Ahmed and Parry put on a superb, battling partnership where they eliminated all risks and slowly advanced the score.  Ahmed reached his 50 and was playing well. Parry was solid as ever apart from giving one chance. The score had reached 120 for 5 with 28 more runs required off seven overs.  At this point the game took another twist when Ahmed was caught.  Leo North joined Parry and the score advanced to 135, at which point North was unluckily adjudged lbw. When Paul Thorburn was bowled on the same score it became 135 for 8 with two overs remaining.   In the penultimate over, skipper John Wainwright struck a crucial boundary, leaving seven runs off the final over.  Parry (51 not out) managed reached his half-century, but was unable seal the win as Audlem ended up 4 runs short of the target at 143 for 8.

Audlem gained 8 points and slipped into the relegation zone, whilst Norbury gained 12 points.

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