Cheshire County Cricket League Division 3
Ashton on Mersey CC 1st XI 200-7
Beat
Middlewich CC 1st XI 198 all out
Ashton on Mersey remained top of the table after a hard-fought win against a battling Middlewich side at The Beets.
Losing the toss and being asked to bowl first on a sweltering day, Ashton found their guests in a belligerent mood with the bat, as the early overs saw numerous boundaries being hit.
But there was an element of luck in this approach and wickets soon began to fall. At 97-5 the innings could have imploded, but George Oakes produced a fine knock of 81 to steer the Middlewich ship through a tricky period.
The innings could have grown further but Charlie Eaton stepped up to destroy the rest of the batting with a five wicket haul including a rare all bowled hat-trick.
Eaton finished with figures of 5-40 as Middlewich were bowled out for 198, somewhat below par on a fine batting surface with a lightning quick outfield.
In reply Ashton started well with opening partners Tom Scott and Saeed Bhamjee putting on 46 before Bhamjee fell. Another fine partnership between Scott and Harris Yassin took the score to 122, with Ashton looking in full control.
But when Yassin went it heralded a clatter of wickets, reducing Ashton to 136-6. With nerves jangling, skipper James Marshall steadied matters with a calm knock, and despite losing Scott for an excellent 83, Marshall and Dave Patterson brought home the win by three wickets with 6 overs to spare.
The win was hard won and Ashton will need to cut out some of the errors which made this one tighter than it should have been, as they welcome Warrington to The Beets next week.
Ashton’s 2nd team recorded a fine win away at Haslington. Ashton 296-7 (Mike Roberts 124, Sam Thozer 85) Haslington 142 all out (Ryan Carey 5-27)
The Ashton 3rd XI continued their excellent season with a 106 run win away at Davenham. Ashton 229-4 (Nitin Kakulde 61, Mohit Gupta 56) Davenham 123 all out.
The Ashton 4th Team made it a clean sweep on weekend wins as they got home in a high scoring game at home against Cheadle Hulme Ladybridge. Ashton 235-8 (Finn Coburn 102, Steve Mckinney 59) Cheadle Hulme Ladybridge 179 all out (Ian Lawlor 81, Keon Taleb 5-22, Jack McHugh 4-17)
Pictured
Tom Scott bats
Charlie Eaton takes one of his hat-trick wickets
