|
Ashley vs Malpas Date: 12th July 2008 Venue: Malpas CC Toss won by: Malpas Batted First: Ashley |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Match Report Ashley packed their credit cards to top up
their fuel tanks and made the long windy trek through the leafy Cheshire
countryside to Malpas and were rewarded with a fine 25 point win. Both sides
were a little understrength but Malpas were boasting a new overseas player
Sri Lankan S Madusanka to replace their aussie allrounder Flynn who took a
five wicket haul in the first game. Presented with what looked to be the
usual flat track and fast outfield the Malpas skipper perhaps strangely asked
Ashley to make first use of the facilities. The visitors opening partnership Dave
Baythorpe and Craig Knight said thank you very much as they moved serenely to
55 for the first wicket when Knight fell to Goldsmith for 18. Baythorpe and
Liam O’Doherty then batted beautifully caressing and smashing the attack in
equal measure to add 132 for the 2nd wicket bringing up maximum
batting points in the 32nd over. Baythorpe played superbly for his
century with big shots all around the ground, hitting over the top especially
well during the early overs., and liberally throwing in delightful cover
drives. At the other end O’Doherty played with his customary panache and one
extra cover drive off the back foot in particular left a lasting impression.
Richard Smith returning to the side after a three weeks R&R and creamed a
couple of his trademark cover drives before playing down the wrong line to
Stubbs. Stuart Brown played intelligently for his 23 not out but could only
watch with surprise as Baythrope was ajudged LBW, and with incredularity as
Leach smashed one onto his pads and was still dismissed. Harry Horsall kicked
one onto his stumps showing a quality of touch last seen on Pascal Cygan and
the Ashley innings stuttered a little before closing on impressive 247-5. The Malpas innings was halted in its tracks almost immediately when skipper Ian Barber found an extra 1 mph to york Dunning and then saw the dangerous Walker take a suicide single and he wasn’t in the frame at the time of a direct hit following a sharp piece of fielding by Ross McKinstry at mid-on. Woods was extracting good movement in the air and off the pitch and saw another chanced grassed before getting the treatment by new Malpas overseas Madusanka who was savage through the cover and extra cover areas. It was the skipper Barber who got the big breakthrough just as Ashley were beginning to think the hulking Sri Lankan was going to win it on his own with ten overs to spare. Madusanka played on to Barber looking for another big shot to add to his ten boundaries, and Ashley followed this up with another big wicket of Stubbs this time off the bowling of Baythorpe who also won a fortuitous leg before appeal against Rickett. The tables had turned completely within ten minutes after drinks. Before the interval Ashley were fearing the worse with Stubbs and Madusanka crashing it around at will, two overs later the visitors were firmly in command with their goal of 25 points in sight. The skipper introduced Knight’s slow left arm and Richard Smith’s never before seen off breaks who applied a tourniquet and managed to extract a little turn. Smith picked up the valuable wicket of hard-hitting veteran Dave Hunt in an impressive debut spell of 1-11. Knight and keeper Matt Wilson combined well for a fine stumping to see Craig complete a memorable return to the Ashley attack with figures of 3-20, whilst Richard made a good impression with 1-11. After Malpas secured their maximum batting points it was going to be difficult on such a flat pitch for Ashley to force the win and Ashley were made to work hard to finish the game and claim due reward. Knight won a plumb LBW appeal against Goldsmith who was squared up and struck in front, and with only two overs left Woods finally got some reward picking up a simple LBW and secure the victory. This was a fine win for an Ashley side
batting deep but missing three of their five front line bowlers so it was
heartening to see the strong batting line up put a big score on the board and
allowed the skipper to use his part-time bowlers and still set some attacking
fields. Congratulations to Dave Baythorpe for his excellent century with nods
to Liam O’Doherty and Craig Knight for their contributions with bat and ball
respectively but the key moment came when the skipper dismissed Madusanka who
was dominating the game. Alvanley are the visitors to the Railway Field next
week and we owe them a decent performance after failing with the bat at their
place early season following a big spell from the their overseas Wheelahan. Full
availability should make selection interesting this week. Todays win saw
Ashley cement their fourth place behind Brooklands Professionals, Oakmere and
Congleton. Davenham trail Ashley by 9 points in fifth, with Alvanley 6th. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
FIRST INNINGS |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
SECOND INNINGS |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Result: Ashley (25 pts) beat Malpas (8pts)
by 73 runs |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||