Alderley Edge First XI fell to their second defeat to Oulton Park in the space of six days on Saturday with a league defeat at Little Budworth coming on the back of last weekend's cup exit with Oulton Park opener Michael Robinson again Alderley's tormentor-in-chief.
Alderley made a solid start after winning the toss and batting first with an opening stand of 51 before the loss of Sam Perry for 37. Alderley's middle order then came and went quickly with the visitors slipping to 86-6 in struggling to cope with Cheshire seamer Ben Gibbon who claimed 5-31 for the hosts, well supported by Andrew Dufty who took 3-45. A good knock of 29 from number 8 Chris Sanders and 15 from Blair Campbell at number 9 helped to lift Alderley out of the mire up to148 all out in the 53rd over.
Opener Michael Robinson, fresh from a hundred against Alderley in the cup the previous Sunday, was again in good fettle putting on 48 for the first wicket with Danny Leech (21) to set the hosts on their way. Two wickets apiece for Alan Day (2-30) and Charlie Reid (2-53) slowed the home side's momentum but Robinson continued to an unbeaten 67 to take Oulton Park to a 6 wickets victory in the company of skipper Martyn East who hit 32 from 26 balls to finish the game with a flourish.
Alderley did continue their success in the Twenty20 competition earlier in the week, progressing to the quarter final stage after defeating Bramhall away on Thursday evening. After winning the toss and batting Alderley amassed 141-9 from their 20 overs, opener Ed Fluck setting them on their way with 26 from 18 balls and George Bell hitting 41 from the middle order. Alderley's attack kept the Bramhall order behind the asking rate with Alan Day taking 2-15, including the key wicket of opposition skipper Nick Cantello for 36, with Chris Sanders cleaning up the lower order with 5-17 to seal victory by 26 runs. Alderley will now play Didsbury in the next round of the competition.
In Saturday's reverse fixture at Moss Lane Alderley's Second XI fell 5 runs short of chasing down a stiff first innings score from Oulton Park who won the toss and elected to bat first. A fine innings of 97 from wicketkeeper-batsman Ben Kettle and 47 from opener Ben Litler propelled the visitors to a strong score of 231-4 from their 50 overs with Alderley's young attack unable to make much of a dent in the Oulton Park line-up. Alderley made a good fist of the chase in the second innings on the back of 70 from opener Dil Yahathugoda and 31 from Pete Lydon taking the hosts close but a key spell of 3-46 from Outlon Park's Matthew Dufty left them just shy of their target to record a losing draw.
On Sunday Alderley's Third XI fell to Toft by seven wickets at Moss Lane. After being asked to bat Alderley failed to build on a good opening partnership of 60 from Calum Wilson (29) and Oscar Robinson who top-scored with 39, slumping to 158-7 from their 45 overs. Zain Basharat took 4-34 for the hosts with Henry Scanlon hitting 33 from number 4 for Alderley. Toft claimed the spoils in the 39th over on the back of 57 from opener Harrison Milner, and George Muirhead and Ben Calvin's unbeaten knocks of 27 and 26 respectively taking the visitors over the line, David Johnson claiming the 3 wickets to fall with figures of 3-33.
Match report by Andrew Windle.
