Long trip to Irby proves fruitless

PRESTBURY took the long trip to Irby CC where captain Steve Oldfield won the toss and invited the home side to bat.

When the score was 31 Prestbury claimed their first wicket as Rakesh Alex bowled M Vick for 17.

Crilly was joined by Harris and they put on 198 off 23 overs before the former fell for 96, bowled by Chirag Marolia.

However, Harris went on to 116 not out as Irby declared at 234 for 2 off 35 overs, leaving Prestbury with bowling figures of Alex 1 for 38, Marolia 1 for 72.

After tea, the visitors had 55 overs to bat out, and didn’t have the best of starts when opener Cameron Kirkland was dismissed in the first over for 4.

Fellow opener Oldfield fell soon after when the the score was 12, caught and bowled by Crawford for 3.

Rishi Mehta came to the wicket and looked settled to play a solid innings but was caught for 7.

The two new batsmen were Bryn Thompson and Marolia and they developed a solid partnership to frustrate the Irby bowlers, putting on 69 off 18 overs until Thompson was bowled for 22 off 40 balls.

George Brindley joined Marolia and they took the score on to 102 but was caught and this prompted a batting collapse.

Marolia was next out for a well earned 58 off 84 balls, Ankur Karmoker 0, Andy Scott stayed around for 18 balls and was unlucky to be out LBW for 8, Alex Insley was not in for long and was bowled for 0, and at 111 the final wicket fell when Alex Rakesh was caught for 1, leaving Raul Mehta not out 0 – he had faced 28 in an effort to keep the possibility of a draw alive, but the innings closed in the 43th over.

Just to note, the Metha twins at 14 years old show great promise with bat and ball. Prestbury man of the match Chirag Marolia.