Kerridge cope well with wet wicket

KERRIDGE 1st XI faced their longest away trip of the season to Tranmere Victoria on the Wirral.

After a long drive, Kerridge arrived to find an uncovered pitch which delayed the start of the game while the umpires waited for a miracle, hoping that it would dry out.

Tranmere won the toss and elected to bowl on the wet wicket which was only destined to become a better surface for batting as the day went on.

Kerridge began their reply steadily as the opening batsmen dealt well with challenging conditions before two wickets fell inside the first seven overs.

This brought Steven Regan and Manzoor Malik together who put on 65 for the third wicket to steady the Kerridge innings and establish some control.

They shared the scoring evenly with Regan being dismissed for 32 and Malik 30. Both were dismissed with the score on 96 for 4 with Kerridge’s batting recovery apparently stalling.

This brought James Knight and Luke Wild to the crease.

They initially batted with caution as they got to grips with the wicket before starting to dominate the bowling attack and scatter fielders to all parts.

Knight and Wild put on 118 for the fifth wicket. Knight was eventually dismissed for a hard fought 45 and Wild for a destructive 98 as he fell only two short of a deserved century.

Kerridge were all out for 260, a target that seemed unlikely when the pitch was assessed at the start of the innings.

The visitors took to the field well aware that the wicket had flattened out as shown by how batting had become easier for the second half of their innings.

Kerridge struck within the opening few overs but were not able to maintain any pressure or take the chances that they created.

Several of the Tranmere batsmen contributed towards the score with them closing on 210 for 8 and the match ending in a draw. Lack of cutting edge in the field hurt Kerridge after a clinical batting performance.

Kerridge are at home next week and welcome all spectators down to enjoy the sunshine at Clarke Lane.