Alderley First XI travelled to third placed Neston on Saturday looking for a third win in a row in the Cheshire County Cricket League Premier Division. Electing to bat, Neston were reduced to 11-3 by the pace of Kieran Elliott and spin of Charlie Reid. Dom Smith and Jonny Crick led a recovery, taking the score to 86-4 before Crick was run out for 45. Elliott and Reid returned to the attack and ran through the Neston middle and lower order to bowl the home side out for a below par 141 off 46.2 overs. Elliott (6-50) and Reid (3-36) finished with excellent figures for Alderley, while Smith top scored for Neston with 55.
After the loss of an early wicket, Calum Rowe and Richard Wilkinson batted watchfully for a few overs before continuing their excellent recent form by knocking off the runs to all parts of the Parkgate ground for the loss of one wicket inside 22 overs, Rowe finishing 55 not out and Wilkinson against his former club an explosive 88 not out of 56 balls, including 14 fours and 4 sixes. Another outstanding win that puts Alderley First XI within a few points of the top half of the league table as the half way point of the season approaches.
Alderley Second XI hosted Neston in the reverse fixture at Moss Lane. A fluent century from Matt Brookes, ably supported by Tony Norris (60) and Toby Brown (46 not out), enabled the visitors to declare on 250-3 off 40 overs. Stand in skipper David Johnson was the pick of the Alderley bowlers, sending down 14 overs for 48 runs and 1 wicket.
Openers Mark Currie (30) and Ollie Hall (63) gave Alderley a platform from which to mount a run chase, but the rest of the innings fell away apart from late resistance from Blair Campbell (28), as Alderley were bowled out for 182 in 42 overs, Paul Stimson taking 4-19 for Neston and Mark Edge 4-42.
Alderley Third XI visited Grappenhall on Sunday. The spin pairing of George Bell and Harry Elms, with 5 and 3 wickets respectively, made steady inroads into the home batting, restricting the home side to 171 off 39 overs. Openers Bell (48) and Joey Chong (88 not out) took command as Alderley reached the target in 26 overs, maintaining second place in the 3rd XI Premier Division as the mid point of the season nears.
Earlier in the week, the Third XI reached finals day of the T20 Cup, a young side all under the age of 18 passing Toft's score of 134-4 inside 17 overs for the loss of 3 wickets, with the opening pairing of George Bell (74) and Joey Chong (32 not out) again leading the way.
Match report by Andrew Windle.
