Macc end with hopeful outlook
THE cricket season came to a close for the Macclesfield 1st XI as they travelled to Sale this weekend. Winning the toss, the hosts elected to bat with a number of juniors in their side and got off to a quick start through Viraj Sorathia and Mat Spells.
The score passed 50 before Chris Moores took his first wicket of the afternoon. Bowling changes brought 15-year-old Ben Curwen on to bowl on his 1st XI debut and had an immediate impact as he removed the other opener, Mat Spells, with his third ball.
Soon after Chris Moores took another wicket as he bowled James Dodds, taking the score to 58-3. The afternoon got better for the debutant in his next over as he took a brilliant caught and bowled to dismiss Sale captain Tyrone Lawrence without scoring.
The hosts looked to rebuild through England under 15 bowler Isaac Brooks and Mike Bishop and had success to see off Ben Curwen’s first spell. The duo batted steadily until another under 15, Jack Massey came on to bowl for Macclesfield.
The spinner removed Mike Bishop for a useful 26. Sale continued to work through the Macclesfield bowling attack before Craig Melrose and Ben Curwen were brought back.
This change worked very soon for the away side as Issac Brooks was bowled for a well made 44 after Shashwat Rusia was trapped LBW. The host’s tail looked to take the score to a defendable total but great work with the ball from Craig Melrose (2-44) and Ben Curwen (4-36) alongside a run out from fellow debutant Harrison Waddington meant that Sale were all out for 153 in the 46th over.
In reply, Macclesfield opened with captain Rob Porter alongside Justin Galeotti and looked to make inroads into the Sale total. The pair looked strong against the opening pace bowlers before Rob Porter was caught for 16. The home side looked to build momentum when they also had Khalid Sawas caught for 11. Under pressure, Miles Bradshaw joined the opening batsman to see off the pace bowlers bringing spin into the attack.
Isaac Brooks came on to bowl for Sale and bowled Justin Galeotti for 30 in his farewell innings before he travels back home to Australia later this week.
Gaining traction, James Dodds took his first wicket when he had Miles Bradshaw caught behind.
Now with Pete Barron and Craig Melrose in the middle, the game was in the balance with the score now 72-4.
Barron was eventually dismissed for 13 in an important partnership before Harrison Waddington was also caught off the bowling of James Dodds (3-32).
At 102-6 Macclesfield looked in some danger before Craig Melrose started regularly finding the boundary.
Well supported by Jack Massey (17 not out), Craig Melrose reached his own 50 milestone before hitting the winning runs taking his side to a fourwicket win.
The 1st XI finished 7th in the Cheshire County Cricket League Division 1 and after a strong finish to the season, the club will have high hopes next time around when the season kicks off again in April.
The Macclesfield 3rd XI narrowly missed out on the Cheshire Cricket League Division B East title although winning this weekend.
The 3rd XI travelled to Middlewich and posted 185-7 after a poor start but rebuilt through Mitch Moores (61*) Stewart Garnett (26) and Tom Radley (30) in particular.
In reply Middlewich were bowled out for just 101 as David Cowen took 5-32 and Haminder Matharu 2-3.
The 3rd XI finished the season in second place in the league and missed out on promotion to Warrington by just two points.