Alderley Edge CC First XI enjoyed another successful weekend moving to second in the Cheshire County Premier League table at the mid-point of the season following a nine wicket demolition of neighbours Cheadle at their Kingsway ground on Saturday.
Winning the toss, Alderley captain Charlie Reid chose to bowl first on a hot and sunny day in South Manchester. Jake Hill and Ed Foster with the new ball kept scoring opportunities at a premium in the early stages backed up by an energetic fielding display from the visitors which belied the hot conditions and by the first drinks break Cheadle were the side feeling the heat at 26-3.
Cheadle skipper Dan Brown combined with number 5 Josh Dooler to add 43 for the fourth wicket which proved to be the most telling contribution of the innings. Foster claimed the key wicket of Brown for 29 who was swiftly followed by Elliott Bullock to an excellent one handed catch by Calum Rowe at short midwicket to give Reid his second wicket.
The captain's off spin accounted for Will Holmes and Dooler, who had batted doggedly to reach 28 before being bowled, to finish with 4-38 from his 17 overs leaving Cheadle on 101-7. Some late order swinging from Rashid Amin boosted the hosts total to 129 before he became the final wicket to fall in the 50th over, bowled by Hill who returned to add two wickets in his second spell to one in his first finishing with 3-24.
Alderley's opening pair then crushed any thoughts of a Cheadle fight back with an opening stand of 81 between Calum Rowe and Sam Perry. Rowe was particularly severe on the home spinners, taking one Will Holmes over for 20 in a devastating display of power and clever placement.
With Perry dismissed for 21 Ed Foster joined Rowe to complete the chase in just under 21 overs as both batsmen upped the ante with the threat of thunderstorms circling. Foster struck 29 not out from 20 balls with Rowe seeing Alderley home with a fantastic unbeaten 78 from just 69 balls including 10 boundaries and two 6's.
Alderley's Second XI also claimed 25 points from the reverse fixture at Moss Lane. Winning the toss Cheadle chose to bat first and looked to be manoeuvring into a strong position at 53-1 with opener Joe Prince and number 3 Aaron Wall going well. The hosts fought back with the ball with David Johnson bowling Wall for 20 and Emma Lamb claiming Prince for 56.
With Lamb then claiming Cheadle's number 4, Ben Samuels, and number 6, Alex Read, both without scoring the tables were beginning to turn. The visitors' number 5 Moin Khan hit a spirited 31 to keep their total moving along but with Johnson and Lamb making regular inroads into the lower order Alderley recovered well to close the innings after 48 overs with Cheadle's good start stunted to close on 147. Johnson and Lamb were both excellent with the ball claiming 4-34 and 4-39 respectively.
The Alderley chase was as emphatic as they come with openers Jonny Scurrah and Ben Lambert completing the job in the 28th over, Cheadle using 7 different bowlers in unsuccessfully looking for a way to break the hosts' opening pair. Scurrah continued his recent good form with an excellent unbeaten 93, Lambert notching 51 not out.
On Sunday Alderley's Third XI made it a clean sweep for the weekend with victory over Marple at their Bowden Lane ground. Winning the toss Alderley decided to bat first, things starting badly with Harry Elms dismissed without a run on the board and number 3 Archie Vaughan following soon after to leave the visitors on 6-2.
Opener Henry Stevinson played calmly to recover the innings, adding 53 for the third wicket with Henry Scanlon (30) and 71 for the 5th wicket with Will Chalk (35). Steveinson was eventually the 8th wicket to fall for a brilliant knock of 110 which helped Alderley up to an imposing total of 234-8 from their 45 overs. Tom Reeve took 4-59 as the pick of the Marple attack.
The home side's top order were making a good fist of the chase in the second innings at 63-1 before Harry Elms struck taking opener Mark Nicholson (36), number 3 Max Fitzgerald and number 4 Lewis Braddock in quick succession to reduce Marple to 77-4.
With Katie Haszeldine claiming 3-9 to take out the lower order Alderley were closing in on victory but Reeve, adding runs to his wickets in the first innings, provided some late resistance striking 42 from number 8 before being bowled by Vaughan with the score on 130 to secure the win for Alderley by an impressive 104 run margin with 15 overs to spare.
Match report by Andrew Windle.
