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Ashley vs Congleton Date: 17th May 2008 Venue: Toss won by: Congleton Batted First: Congleton |
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Match Report An overcast day took Ashley to Congleton for the first time, and on
winning the toss the former Cheshire County League outfit chose to bat first
on what was quite literally a road. Nick Holt opened up with his brisk left
arm and beat the bat on several occasions before finding the edge and Richard
Smith took a very sharp chance at gully. At the other end Dave Woods saw the
3rd man boundary leaking runs off thick outside edges before T.
Blease mistimed a pull and skied a catch to square leg where Alves spilled
the chance. The batter overcame this nervy start and made Ashley pay dearly
as he batted well and became the pillar for the innings and move to an
unbeaten 123 not out. Browe looked very threatening and twice creamed Holt through
extra cover on his way to 21 so it was a relief to see Ian Barber square him
up and accept a caught and bowled opportunity and reduce the home side to 56-2.
This brought the Congleton overseas batter to the crease and he was promptly
dropped by Deans at slip off an unlucky Alves, who then saw Bailey smash a quickfire 33 before getting his man
at deep gully where Sons took a simple catch bringing an end to a 70 run partnership.
Brew slogged 33 before Deans quicker ball cleaned him up to conclude another 60
run partnership. Blease survived another chance off Alves at cover after
reaching his milestone, and Congleton finished on 216-4 which although a big
score Ashley felt was a par score and some 40 short of what it should have
been and so thoroughly enjoyed the best tea in living memory. The Ashley reply began apace with Craig Knight and Richard Smith
looking to score at every opportunity and the fast outfield and rock hard square
ensured that full value was gained for good shots. Craig in particular looked
like he was batting in 20/20 mode hooking, pulling and driving the opening
attack to all parts. Smith again looked comfortable and ready to register his
first big score after two sumptuous drives when he was bowled off an inside
edge by a youthful and promising J. Higginbotham. Knight and O’Doherty
continued to score quickly until Knight who had been looking indestructible
lined up a Higginbotham half volley, got a thick edge and was very well
caught low down at point by A. Dale. With Ashley on 50-2 the skipper came to
the crease and amazingly brought all his shots with him, including several he
appeared to have borrowed. Liam moved serenely to 22 including a superb
straight drive that rattled the boards on the sightscreen and he seemed well
set but fell when Potts won a leg before decision. Dave Deans picked up where
Liam left off and flayed the home attack pulling Potts out of the ground and
down the road and then lifting the same bowler back over his head and almost over
the netting. Despite surviving a strong appeal for caught behind on 35 he and
the skipper added 80 for the 4th wicket until he was run out or 51
after a fine throw over the stumps by Blease from the deep with the score on
166-4. The visitors had kept up with the run rate all the way through and
with 10 overs left the target was 50 with 6 wickets in hand. On such a good
wicket even with a decent attack, the odds favoured Ashley and so it proved.
Ian Barber tried to run run one down through the empty 1st slip
and saw the outstanding Bailey make a flying one handing grab and give
Congleton a lifeline a 181-5. However, Ross McKinstry and Seamus Sons kept
their cool working the ball around and punishing the bad ball to move toward
the finish line so that only 5 was required off the final over. The voluble and frankly tiresome
Higginbotham had the honour of the last over, and it quickly degenerated into
an unacceptable one at that. A dead
ball was declared on the first ball for chirping but only after Ross had square
cut Higginbotham to the boundary. He then pushed a single and then came the
dross. The 2nd ball at Seamus Sons was a front foot no-ball, 3rd
a chest high beamer, a legside wide and another straight head high beamer that
went unpunished before an attempted bouncer was contemptuously hooked over
the netting, and bungalows at square leg to give the visitors a deserved
victory. This was a fantastic game of
cricket played on a great wicket that is a big credit to the groundsman who
was incidentally the father of T. Blease who got the unbeaten hundred. It was
a very strong team performance from Ashley in which everyone played their
part, with much of the hard work being done in the field to keep a strong
line up down to less than 220 on a wicket that perhaps should have been a
250+ track given that one lad got a hundred. Nick Holt made a welcome return
to the 1X1 and showed good pace and control with welcome aggression. However
it has to be said that Ashley certainly should have chasing considerably less
had they held three catches, two of which were off the centurian. The batting
has scored over 200+ in the last two weeks with pretty much everyone getting
a score. Obviously Dixie and Barbs partnership really pushed the game into
our favour and will rightly grab the attention but the importance of Seamus
and Ross’ winning 40 run partnership with the pressure on cannot be
overstated. With all the batters growing in confidence and spending time in the
middle after the scratchy start hopefully we can push on and maintain the
good form. This 25 point win helped Ashley move into 2nd place
behind the professional Brooklands CC who maintained their 100% record by
steamrollering Alvanley. Newly promoted Mere are the visitors to the Railway
Field next week who have a good batting line up backed up with a decent attack
so it promises to be another good game. |
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FIRST INNINGS |
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SECOND INNINGS |
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Result: Ashley (25pts) beat Congleton (13pts)
by 5 wickets |
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