Ecclestone’s six wickets aid Alvanley
ALVANLEY Cricket Club’s first XI made it two wins on the bounce on Saturday, beating Congleton by five wickets with no less than 48 overs to spare after a morning of monumental efforts to get the game played following prolonged heavy rain.
It was a surprise to start on time at 1pm and and equally surprising to be bowling on a wet wicket having lost the toss.
Jimmy Ecclestone and Chris Charles opened proceedings and it wasn’t long before the former continued where he had left off last week, rearranging Tom Leese’s stumps without score.
He was at it again in his third over persuading Ben Scowen to sky a catch to Lee Ainsworth who pouched it expertly at point and it was now 20-2.
Tom Blease and Jack Higginbotham then added an assertive 28 runs, but at 48, Ecclestone produced a brute of a ball to remove the latter.
Opener Blease followed in the next over, falling to an accidental bumper from Chris Charles and caught by Chris Jones’s elbows and chest having nailed a pull shot.
Facing 48-4, Jack Goode decided to take Ecclestone on and planted him for a four and a maximum before leaving a ball that seamed back to take his off stump out of the ground.
Next to go was Gregory Eyre, run out by Ecclestone – it was clearly his day.
He confirmed this by bowling Sean Cardall via his helmet and having Harry Podmore caught brilliantly behind by Chris Wright to give him great figures of 6-54.
Chris Charles weighed in to remove Andy Williamson for two, and at 73-9, Congleton were having a bad day.
Their spirits were lifted by a stirring last wicket stand of 25, boosting the score to 98 before Mike Rowlands struck with a brilliant caught and bowled to dismiss John Copeland and finish the resistance off.
In tricky conditions, Alvanley needed to get off to a good start – they did.
Openers Ian McDermott and Rowlands batted really well as the ball moved around for Congleton.
Dogged defence and opportunistic attack allowed them to add a valuable 51 for the first wicket before McDermott fell for an excellent 21 which featured four boundaries.
Batting at three, Ecclestone could not add to his earlier brilliant bowling falling for six, and when teammates Sam Baxter and Chris Wright departed quickly, work still had to be done.
Rowlands looked to be the man for the job but, belying his experience, he flogged a catch to Eyre at long on off a Copeland delivery, cranking up the nerve-o-meter on the balcony.
It should be noted that Rowlands’s 35 runs were invaluable and made in tough conditions.
The new-found ability to chase totals, though, is still intact at Alvanley.
Jones and Andy Bennion nudged a succession of singles to calmly take their team home to a maximum 25 points. It’s Barrow away next for Alvanley. Meantime, Alvanley’s second string were out of luck in their clash with their counterparts from Congleton on Saturday afternoon.
After calling the coin flip correctly, Alvanley decided to bat first.
However, apart from an outstanding 82 from opener David Jones, Alvanley struggled against Congleton’s attack.
They were eventually skittled out for 149 inside 45 overs.
Congleton shared the wickets around with Dave Moors and Guy Baxendale leading the way with three apiece. Simon Tatters and Paul Beaumont each took two each.
In response, Congleton struggled in the opening stages with the top four batsmen all departing for a total of 22 runs.
But Lyndon Booth steadied their ship and his undefeated 64 helped ease the hosts to a match-winning 150-5 two balls into the 39th over of their reply.
David Summers snapped up a fine 4-43 from 15 overs to lead Alvanley’s bowlers.