Toss won by:

Batted First:

Absolutely blimmin’ awful!

Stand-in skipper Horn won the toss and put Alsager in to bat on pitch that looked like it would do a bit and improve if the weather held out. The Alsager openers got off to a rapid start and took every opportunity expose a very poor Ashley fielding performance by taking singles where there shouldn’t have been one and turning ones into twos with alarming regularity. Dropped catches and missed run-outs were the order of the day and Ashley were unable to apply any lasting pressure. The Wardle brothers looked the most likely to stop the Alsager juggernaut, but the generally Alsager batted well and punished anything wide or short. Both openers batted well with [?] going on to make a ton having been dropped early on and again on 99. The only good news of the afternoon was that Newcastle had gone ahead again United in the opening game of the season.

The Ashley response was then pretty lackluster to say the least. Brownhill and Smith departed early, M Burgess got fingered by Horn for a close run-out and tutted and shook his head all the way back to the pavilion. However, the award for grumbler of the week goes to Matt Wardle who, having been run out by the Skipper, belied his tender years, by breaking Dan Shelstons Going On About It world record. Akshat stuck around for a bit and whacked a few lusty blows before being given out caught behind, a decision that he strongly contested. Burt nudged one to mid-on and inexplicably thought there was a run.

So, it all petered out without any real resistance. A very poor performance with the bat, ball and in the field. This is the 4^th game on the trot that Ashley have posted less than 100. We know we can play much better than this, and the team need to make a big effort if the season isn’t going to end in huge disappointment.

…and United equalized.

FIRST INNINGS

Batting
	Batsman	How Out	Bowler	Runs
1.	Perry	Ct Eaton	Wardle J	62
2.	Revel	Ct	Furness	104
3.	Evans	Bowled	Wardle M	0
4.	Webster	LBW	Wardle M	0
5.	Freeman	LBW	Horn	51
6.	Trenbirth	Not out		23
7.	Gross	Not out		0
8.
9.
10.
11.
			Extras
			Total

BOWLING
Name	O	M	R	W
Eaton	8	0	52	0
Furness	6	0	41	1
Wardle J	6	0	33	1
Burt	8	0	36	0
Wardle M	9	0	67	2
Smith	2	0	18	0
Horn	2	0	12	1

SECOND INNINGS

Batting
	Batsman	How Out	Bowler	Runs
1.	Brownhill	B	?	1
2.	Smith	B	Gross L	1
3.	Burgess	Run out		4
4.	Johanmogan	Ct	Stankley	15
5.	Wardle M	Run out		3
6.	Burt	Run out		0
7.	Horn	B	Trenbirth	24
8.	Eaton	Ct	Gross J	6
9.	Ferris	Not out		6
10.	Wardle J	B	Webster	1
11.	Furness	B	Trenbirth	0
			Extras	12
			Total	73

BOWLING
Name	O	M	R	W
Gross L	5	1	9	1
?	6	1	15	1
Stankley	8	3	11	1
Gross J	7	2	25	1
Trenbirth	2.3	0	7	2
Webster	1	1	0	1

Result: Alsager 4^ths won

Toss won by:

FIRST INNINGS

Eaton

Wardle J

Burt