Cheshire County Cricket League Division 2
Ashton on Mersey CC 1st XI 198-6
Lost to
Port Sunlight CC 1st XI 199-4
Top Image: Fraser Hay bats
Ashton on Mersey fell to a narrow defeat against league leaders Port Sunlight on a day where the Cricket Gods were not on Ashton’s side.
Losing the toss and being asked to bat first on a track which gave significant early help to the bowlers, Ashton struggled in the opening overs, finding themselves two wickets down with only 20 runs on the board.
Mike Roberts and Fraser Hay steadied the ship, working hard for their runs with an outfield slowed because of morning rain.
When Roberts fell, Hay and skipper James Marshall continued the rebuild, with Hay becoming more comfortable as conditions improved.
After Marshall went, Lee Brooks joined Hay to push the score forward. Hay hit out towards the close of the innings, bringing up a splendid hundred in the final over.
Given the difficult conditions they had to cope with, Ashton did well to post a total just shy of 200. For Port Sunlight the bowling pick was Simon Melberzs who finished with 3 for 17.
In reply the home side looked comfortable against the Ashton seam attack, but the introduction of spinners Mark Weighill and Zaheer Khan slowed the advance.
Progress was slow although wickets were hard to come by. But some keen out-cricket saw three wickets fall before the halfway stage.
Wayne Greve played cautiously to keep the run chase on track, but the crucial moment came when Melberzs survived a strong appeal for a catch behind the wicket off Charlie Eaton. With other decisions not going in Ashton’s favour, the home side edged to a win with four overs to spare.
Ashton can consider themselves unlucky to have lost this encounter, which could easily have gone their way had the calls fallen in their favour.
The Ashton 2nd XI recorded another fine win as they entertained Romiley at The Beets. Ashton 208-9 (Lee Heap 59, Alex Napier 4-60) Romiley 125 all out (Bradley Snape 50, Rafay Qazi 5-32).
Ashton’s 3rd team fell to defeat against a powerful Heaton Mersey side. Heaton Mersey 321 – 6 (Ismael Khan 106, Alishan Khan 69) Ashton 112 -9.
Mark Weighill bowls
