April 2025

Cheshire County Cricket League Division 2Ashton on Mersey CC 1st XI 217-9Lost to Upton CC 235-8Ashton lost on the road to an impressive Upton side, despite a battling effort which took them within tantalising distance of their target.With the home side choosing to bat first, Ashton had early success with Fraser Hay grabbing two well deserved early wickets.With Upton riding their luck, the home pair of Matt Owen and Lee Dixon re-built the innings. Both had to play watchfully at times, but they were never afraid to attack the bad ball.Once Dixon fell to skipper James Marshall, middle order wickets fell before Tom Marsland joined Owen to up the pace.Yousuf Bhamjee removed Marsland, but Owen held the tail together to complete an unbeaten  hundred as Upton finished on 235-8. Bhamjee finished with figures of 3-36 and Hay recorded 3-46.In reply Ashton got off to a steady start with Hugh Gibbons and Dave Patterson putting on 45 before Gibbons fell.The Ashton effort faltered as a mixture of good bowling and poor judgement saw the middle order collapse, leaving all seeming lost at 104-8.But Charlie Eaton had other things in mind. In one of the gutsiest knocks seen by an Ashton player in recent years, Eaton was a class apart as he took on the Upton attack. Partnered by Bhamjee, Eaton moved past his half century and brought thoughts of a dramatic win into focus.But when Bhamjee was run out with the score on 171, the task became even greater. Despite Eaton fighting to the finish with great support from Zaheer Khan, Ashton fell just 18 runs short when the overs ran out. Eaton’s unbeaten 77 in a losing cause will long be remembered.David Williams took the bowling honours with 4-18.There will be lessons to be learned by the Ashton team from this result and many of the more experienced batters would do well to consider why one of our younger players demonstrated maturity and confidence beyond what other could provide.Ashton’s 2nd XI went down to a second defeat of the season after failing to defend a reasonable total against Romiley at The Beets. Ashton 214-9 (Suhan Shetty 55 not out,Tom Stockton 40, George Healey 3-45), Romiley 216-3 (Alex Napier 126 not out). The 3rd XI also fell to defeat at home to Marple, in their 2nd T20 game of the season. Ashton 91 all out (Max Lilley 35 not out)  Marple 94-3 Pictured Suhan Shetty on his way to a half century Tom Stockton grabs a single