Kerridge cruise home at Clark Lane
KERRIDGE hosted Mellor CC on Saturday at Clark Lane on a beautiful day. With a hard pitch and clear skies Kerridge were pleased to be asked to bat after Mellor won the toss.
Kerridge set about their task with vigour and an opening stand between Adam Banks and James Knight of 75 from the opening 12 overs laid a solid foundation for Kerridge. Knight was eventually dismissed for a high tempo 56, never giving letting the Mellor bowling attack settle during the opening salvo.
Five wickets then fell for the addition of 10 runs as Kerridge teetered at 85 for 5 before Andrew McKeith and Danny Brown arrived at the crease.
They batted with initial caution and increasing confidence to push Kerridge towards a more respectable target.
Together they put on 94 crucial runs for the 6th wicket when McKeith eventually fell for a well-made 42 to continue his good late season form.
Brown put down the accelerator after the fall of the sixth wicket to score the lion’s share of a seventh wicket partnership of 77.
He batted with increasing fluency before being dismissed only six short of what would have been a deserved century. Kerridge declared on 255 for 7 after 40 overs.
Mellor began their reply steadily and by the eighth over there were only 19 runs on the board for the loss of no wickets. James Knight then struck to take the first of his three wickets.
From then the Mellor batsmen came and went with none making much more than double figures.
The notable exception was M Malik who was dismissed for exactly 50.
The last six Mellor batsmen were dismissed for a combined total of seven runs as Kerridge wrapped up another convincing victory as Mellow were all out for 94 giving Kerridge a 158 run victory. Alex Grimes took another five wicket haul, his sixth of the season, to finish with figures of 6 for 35 from 7.4 overs.
Kerridge welcome Appleton to Clark Lane next Saturday with only two games left to hold to top spot. As usual the clubs thanks go to this week’s ball sponsor Mr & Mrs T Lyne.