Thrilling opening as Macc edged out
ON a sunny day in Warrington, Macclesfield’s first team got their 2017 campaign underway and collected ten points in defeat.
Warrington won the toss and elected to bowl first. Macclesfield’s openers, Fin McCance and John Birchall, got the visitors off to a strong start through some excellent stroke-play.
The pair made it to 50-0 in quick time, before McCance was dismissed by McIntosh for 28.
Macc then managed to take the score up to 90-1 through Birchall and Tom Tudor before the latter was bowled by Els for 8.
Not long after, Marsden and Birchall were both caught in the covers, Birchall having played very well for his 60 runs.
Rob Porter and Peter Barron then rebuilt for a few overs, rotating the strike and putting the bad ball away, taking the score onto 135.
Unfortunately, Porter then received a very good ball, nipping back in and taking the top of off stump.
Will Smith then came to the crease and started off patiently, ensuring Macc could post a competitive total.
The pair added 60 for the next wicket, before Barron was bowled for 50 and Smith was caught for 28 not long after. In the last few overs of the innings Macc tried to accelerate up to 220 but fell just short, ending on 214-8 off their 50 overs.
In the field, Macc began slightly below par and allowed Warrington to get off to a decent start.
However, Craig Melrose and debutant youngster Otis Palms soon turned things around and reduced the hosts to 42-2 after 10 overs, the two wickets coming through Melrose, trapping both openers LBW.
Unfortunately, Macc couldn’t add to these two early scalps right away and had to wait until the introduction of Birchall who had Els caught behind by wicketkeeper Jim Melrose for 26, leaving the score on 86-3.
Again though, Macc had to bide their time for another breakthrough.
The score moved on to 116 before the next wicket fell and keeping Warrington’s number three batsman, Brad McIntosh, quiet, was proving problematic. At 116-4, the game was certainly in the balance however.
McIntosh and Heaney dug in though and the former dealt a few big hits to Macc’s bowling attack, passing his 50 in the process and taking Warrington’s total on to 150 with around 15 overs to go.
There was another twist in the plot though as a mix up between Heaney and McIntosh saw the latter run out by Tom Tudor for a brilliant 78. Macc were in among it again with the score on 173-5 with just over 10 overs to go.
Heaney and Heaphy were looking very nervous, and Macc needed to strike again in this period of the game. But apart from a close run out chance, no other big chances fell Macc’s way. Warrington grew in confidence again and hit a few more telling boundaries.
The pair took the hosts passed the 200 mark and the end was in sight.
Macc couldn’t take any more wickets with them and a brave partnership of 42 between Heaney and Heaphy saw the hosts over the line with two overs to spare, winning by five wickets.
Macc disappointingly began their season with a defeat, taking 10 points from what was an exciting game for the neutral, in a division which will be very competitive.
Macclesfield seconds’ season started with a tense thriller, in which the hosts came out on the wrong side of a gripping contest against Nantwich at Victoria Road.
Macc posted 162 all out after being 58-6 at one point. Alex Griffiths (35), Andy Moores (21) and Tom Radley (46), ensured Macc had something to bowl at.
Nantwich, in reply, started off really well, taking the score onto 92-1. However Matt Griffiths bowled superbly to bring the hosts back into the match.
He had both openers dismissed and tore through the middle order. This set up a tense finishNantwich were on 142-8 with a few overs to go. Macc just couldn’t find the next breakthrough they needed though, losing by two wickets in the 48th over. Matt Griffiths finished with fabulous figures of 5-32 off 15 overs.
Macclesfield’s third team struggled in their first outing of the season at home against Chelford. Chelford made 253-8 dec off 41 overs.
In reply, Macc were unfortunately bowled out for just 43. However there were promising signs from the some of the academy lads with the ball, including Jack Massey, Alec Terry and Harry Massey, who claimed 4-55, including a hat-trick!