First team pick up second victory

MACCLESFIELD CC’s first team recorded their second victory of the season at home to Urmston, a win which lifted them up to sixth in the table.

In a game sponsored by East Cheshire Mortgages, Urmston won the the toss and asked Macclesfield to bat under grey skies.

Macc got off to a flying start thanks to John Birchall (26) and Alex Griffiths (31) before quick wickers left Macc needing to rebuild.

Tom Tudor (36) and Andy Moores (31) laid the platform for Craig Melrose to hit a quickfire 52 of 33 balls, allowing Macc to finish on 221-7 off their 50.

Under constant pressure from Macc’s speam attack, the main resistance in Urmston’s response was from opener and skipper Callum Turner.

When Turner and Sumit Panda (30) were at the crease together Urmston were in control.

With the game in the balance at 190-6, Birchall got the key wicket of Turner for 105, paving the way for skipper Rob Porter to clean up the tail.

Porter eventually finished with brilliant figures of 5-43 as Urmston were all out for 194.

A busy week sees Macc play Bollington in the T20 cup on Thursday night, travel to Upton on Saturday before entertaining Bollington again in the Cheshire Cup on Sunday.