Leaders edge it at Victoria Road
ON Saturday the Macclesfield 1st XI welcomed top of the table Oxton to the Victoria Road ground in a fixture kindly sponsored by East Cheshire Mortgages.
On a day with various dubious weather forecasts, plenty of work was required prior to the match to ensure a start. As the weather persisted, the start was delayed and the game shortened to 47 overs a side.
After winning the toss, the visiting side decided that Macclesfield would bat first. It was a dream start for Oxton as Jack Corran dismissed Justin Galeotti in the first over to bring captain Rob Porter to the crease.
Macclesfield started to steadily see off the opening spells to prevent losing further wickets.
It wasn’t until a mixup between the batsmen that saw Angus Thomson ran out for 28 in a useful innings for Macclesfield, taking the score to 75-2.
Khalid Sawas was the new batsmen.
However when Rob Porter was bowled for a well made 49, a change would occur.
With a slowing run rate, two further wickets fell as Khalid Sawas continued on a difficult pitch. At 93-5 Miles Bradshaw joined Khalid Sawas in the middle and looked to stabilize the innings and add some hasty runs.
The useful partnership
was broken when Khalid Sawas was stumped for 27 looking to add impetus. With the overs ticking away, quick scoring from Craig Melrose (25) and Miles Bradshaw (26) took the Macclesfield innings total to 167-7 from the 47 over allocation.
After the break, Harry Massey took the new ball alongside Craig Melrose but it was the younger of the two, Massey, who had the early impact; dismissing two former Austrailian first class cricketers Jack Smith and Glenn Batticciotto both to good catches which left Oxton under a lot of pressure.
However with Luke Filer and Jonny Crick at the crease, the visitors fought back.
The duo saw off the tight opening spells before Jack Massey and Rob Porter came on to bowl.
The opening batsman Filer now looked to score quickly until he was bowled by Jack Massey for 43. Jack Massey took his second not too long later when the quick scoring Toby Brown was bowled for 19. At the other end, Jonny Crick continued steadily to preserve his wicket.
Alex Risk played aggressively against the spin attack and took Oxton closer to the win. Jonny Crick eventually fell to an excellent caught and bowled by Rob Porter for 44. However Jack Breheny joined Alex Risk and took Oxton home to a fivewicket win with just two overs to spare.
The 1st XI look to bounce back next week as they travel to Bowdon.
Macclesfield’s 2nd XI made the journey to the Wirral to face Oxton on Saturday but only managed five overs of play before the rain set in for the afternoon which meant that play was abandoned.
Taking seven points from the fixture, the 2nd XI fell to second place in the table and will look to retain their place at the top as they welcome Bowdon next week.
Also on Saturday, the Macclesfield 3rd XI welcomed Timperley to Parkside and were asked to bat first.
A strong start from Joe Haigh and Ian Kenny setup Macclesfield for a good first innings total.
However a middle order collapse combined with good bowling from Pankaj Mishra (finishing 4-50) and Surya Gijupalli (finishing 6-47) meant that Macclesfield struggled, with the exception of Stephen Whittingham who smashed 57 at well over a run a ball to take the first innings total to 142 before being bowled out two overs early.
In reply, Timperley struggled to get going with challenging opening spells of Miles Horner and Ed Strong, with the latter taking three wickets. Bowling changes brought bags of experience as Stewart Garnett took four wickets to prevent a middle order challenge to the first innings total. Stephen Whittingham took two wickets of the tail to take the 3rd XI to a 66 run win.
The 3rd XI, now sat second in the league look to further their promotion hopes as they travel to Cheadle Hulme next weekend.
The Macclesfield 4th XI also won on Sunday by 70 runs against Sale as S Ivanka top scored with 32 runs before taking four wickets.