The cricket season started last Saturday with weather more typical of mid-summer than the usual opening weekend of the icy cold blasts of winter, with Wirral side Oxton Edge’s first visitors of the season. The afternoon began with a minutes silence for a long-term supporter of the cricket section and member for over forty years, who was tragically killed in a road accident in the village last Wednesday afternoon.
Oxton batted first on a great looking track which reflected much credit on groundsman Paul Heades. Scoring was generally a bit on the slow side with new captain, Jason Whittaker, opening the bowling for Edge and pitching an excellent line and length. Eventually teenager Ross Dixon made a real impact for the visitors with a belligerent, unorthodox 91 off just 65 balls, which owed everything to timing and little to technique. He was eventually trapped lbw by Charlie Reid’s off spin, but with captain Chris Davies scoring 51 the game had moved a little in favour of Oxton.
The visitors eventually made a very respectable 236 for 8 declared at half-way, with Whittaker taking 3 for 30, and spinner Alan Day a very useful 3 for 27 off 7 overs. On a normal day, 236 would have been a good score, but with the pitch playing excellently and the afternoon continuing with warm sunshine, the match looked to be fairly evenly poised at tea.
When Edge batted, opener Mark Currie continued his rich scoring vein from last year, when he scored five centuries in the Cheshire Premier League. The match entered its decisive stage when Currie was joined by Jason Whittaker with the score at 115 for 4. From this point Edge never looked threatened and an unbroken stand of 123 saw the home side easing to victory with almost three overs to spare. Currie scored a sublime 110 off 149 balls, with Whittaker a classy 57, as Edge ensured a winning start to the season. Currie in particular will be giving Oxton nightmares as his last 3 innings against them have yielded some 300 runs whilst he has been dismissed only once.
Next week, Edge are at Toft in a local derby looking to extend their excellent start to the season. Toft will be in confident mood having comprehensively beaten one of the championship favourites Nantwich in the opening round of matches.
Final score: Oxton 232-8 Alderley Edge 238-4. Alderley Edge won by 6 wickets.
Photograph kindly supplied by Kelvin Briggs.
