Archie Vaughan made an instant impact to the Alderley CC First XI on Saturday against neighbours Toft at Moss Lane on his first outing for the club since signing professional terms with county side Somerset.
After winning the toss Sam Perry decided to bowl first with Alderley's opening pair of Ed Foster and Chris Sanders both striking early to leave the visitors reeling on 2-2. From there Alderley's spinners took over, Vaughan striking first as Toft lost their third wicket with 36 on the board and in tandem with Australian Saami Welsh the pair ravaged the visitors' batting line up to bowl them out for 115, Vaughan claiming 5-44 from 15.5 overs and Welsh bagging 2-39 from 11 overs.
Number four Ewan Williams with 31 and skipper Jimmy Lomas' 34 from number 8 were the only pair to make it past single figures for Toft. The visitors started brightly in the second innings in reducing Alderley to 22-2 but a composed 74 not out from opener Perry and 34 not out from Vaughan at number 4 saw the hosts to their target with no further dramas to take a precious 25 points for the 8-wicket victory.
On Thursday evening Alderley also registered victory in the group stages of the Twenty20 competition with a 9-wicket demolition of Bramhall at Church Lane.
Winning the toss the hosts elected to bat first with opener Greg Dixon hitting 23 from 21 balls to lay the foundations for their innings but the combination of spinners Saami Welsh (2-17) and Liam Yahathugoda (2-10) pulled the rug out from under the middle order reducing them to 44-6.
A spirited 34 from 23 balls from number 7 Kenul Watawana and 23 from 21 from number 8 Ben Argyle helped the hosts to recover slightly but with tight bowling towards the end of the innings Alderley closed out the first innings bowling the home side out for 114, Dan Fesmer again economical in taking 2-13 from 4 overs. Alderley were clinical in reply reaching their target for the loss of a solitary wicket as Sam Perry bludgeoned 65 not out from just 40 balls, well supported by Subhaan Mahmood who struck 39 not out from 31.
In Second XI action Alderley suffered a 4-wicket loss away to Heaton Mersey on Saturday, after winning the toss the visitors chose to bat first and made their way to a strong position of 78-2 in the early stages on the back of skipper Andy Kennedy's 45 and 28 from Tejas Rao at number 4.
Following the dismissal of Rao the remainder of Alderley's order couldn't withstand the trio of Uzair Azhar (4-28), Faisal Maqsood (3-21) and Humzah Wasim (3-20) as the hosts recovered to take Alderley's last 8 wickets for 46 runs to leave them chasing 125 for victory.
Alderley started brightly with the ball in the second innings on the back of a brace each for Max Wilson (2-43) and Alan Day (2-24) as the hosts slumped to 62-5 but a composed 46 from number 3 Ayaz Cheem and an unbroken partnership of 43 for the seventh wicket between Abbas Shah (17 not out) and Uzair Azhar (29 not out) was enough to see Mersey home.
On Sunday Alderley's Third XI claimed victory over Brooklands by four wickets at Moss Lane to take 12 crucial points. Winning the toss the visitors elected to bat first with opener Sam Hill's 52 laying an early platform built on by number four Richard Palmer with 56 and 33 from number 5 Joe Howells, but an outstanding 6-35 from seamer Harry Boddy ensured the visitors scoring did not get away from Alderely as Brooklands closed on 200-9 from their 40 overs.
In reply, a superb unbeaten 115 from opener Andy Kennedy marshalled the chase for the hosts with 27 from Charlie Boddy and 20 from Joe Bailey-Heald providing strong support as Alderley crossed the line with four balls to spare.
