Alderley Edge First XI found themselves at the base of the Cheshire County Premier League on Saturday evening with a six-wicket loss away to Nantwich leaving them with two defeats and a wash out from their first three fixtures of the season as Sam Perry's men look to kick-start the defence of their Premier League title.
Winning the toss, Alderley made steady progress in the opening overs having elected to bat first at Whitehouse Lane as Perry and Ed Foster compiled a 49-run opening stand before Foster was run out for 22. At 101-2 Alderley had built a solid platform against a strong home attack but the dismissal of Pat Ashling for 20 prompted a monumental collapse in the Alderley order who lost their last 8 wickets for just 22 runs tumbling to 123 all out, Jimmy Warrington the tormentor-in-chief for the hosts bagging 6-12 from 10 overs including the prize wicket of Perry for 49.
In the second innings the home side started strongly with skipper Ray Doyle hitting 31 from 30 balls before being dismissed to an excellent catch by Dan Fesmer from a mis-timed pull off Chris Sanders after Nantwich's opening pair had reached 52. George Valentine claimed two wickets in two balls, including the dangerous Luke Robinson, as Alderley rallied with the ball reducing the home side to 75-3 and then 79-4 with Sanders claiming his second of the afternoon.
Nantwich opener Ali Chugthai remained defiant in hitting 44 not out to see his side home with Phil Stockton hitting 14 not out in support. Alderley will look to bounce back against newly-promoted Bowden next week in the last of an unprecedented four consecutive away fixtures.
Alderley's Second XI kept a bumper crowd entertained until the very end of the reverse fixture at Moss Lane on Saturday with the visitors claiming a double for The Dabbers as the winning runs were hit off the final ball of the game. Winning the toss and electing to bat first Alderley skipper Andrew Kennedy led from the front with a superb knock of 120, adding 144 for the second wicket with Jon Steele (66) and a quickfire 35 from Henry Stevinson helping Alderley to a strong total of 260-4 from their 50 overs.
Nantwich's opening pair amassed a partnership of 125 in reply before Owen Silvester fell for 58, bowled by Steele, fellow opener Jakob Jordan's 84 taking the host's score up to 173. The loss of Silvester, and Nick Marsh an over later, left Nantwich on 185-3 and with an asking rate of 9 runs an over for the last 8 overs of the game. But number 3 Ben Wright and number 5 Chris Bentley proved up to the challenge to keep Nantwich in touch with the required rate and eventually hitting the 7 runs required off the final over with a single off the final ball of the game enough to secure victory.
Wright finished with 72 not out from 59 balls and Bentley 29 off 18 balls compiling a match-winning partnership of 76 to claim a seven-wicket victory for the visitors.
On Sunday Alderley's Third XI lost out by 38 runs to Stockport Georgians. After winning the toss Georgians started steadily putting on 49 for the first wicket before Alderley fought back with the ball, Harry Boddy's 3 wickets for 33 runs leading the way with 2 wickets apiece for Alfie Usher and Mo Wajid reducing the hosts to 109-6 before a knock of 62 off 45 balls from number 8 Muizz Ishaq swung things back in Georgians favour as they posted 223 from their 40 overs.
Opener Alfie Usher's 29 laid the foundation for Alderley to mount their chase, reaching 93-3 before losing two wickets quickly as Ali Mudassar (2-41) and Arthur Wolstenholme (2-23) helped to put Georgians in the driving seat.
A 66-run partnership for the 6th wicket between Andrew Siddle (47) and Charlie Boddy (23) kept Alderley in the hunt at 159-5 but when they were dismissed within an over of each other the Georgians attack turned the screw on Alderley's lower order eventually bowling out the hosts for 185 in the 38th over to claim the 12 point victory with Alderley taking 4 points.
