Widnes’ erratic form is quite the head scratcher
Chester Boughton Hall 261 \ 7 45 overs
Widnes C C 142 all out 44.1 overs Chester Boughton Hall won by 118 runs
IT was 25 years ago that Cheshire took on the might of Essex, Gooch, Hussain, Mark Waugh and all in the first round of the Nat West Trophy at the Bought Hall ground.
Widnes players, Richard Hignett and Tim Bostock top scored with 55 and 42 runs respectively and what price would current Widnes captain Tom Evans, pay for their consistent run scoring this season?
Once again after a good start the Widnes batters failed to build on a good start on what was a good wicket with a quick outfield.
Chester won the toss and elected to bat and it was the willing Parkinson who made an early breakthrough, dismissing the experienced Moore with only four on the board.
Alex Money joined opener Jones and soon had the Widnes bowlers on the back foot as they were unable to stem the runs.
However on 74 Hafiz dismissed Jones bringing the dangerous Killoran to the crease.
Money reached his 50 but was dismissed shortly afterwards thanks to a smart caught and bowled by Evans.
With only Majeed seemingly able to stem the flow of runs, Killoran and Dixon sent the ball to all parts of the ground.
Evans was particularly harshly treated before a smart stumping by Kirby off his bowling dismissed Dixon for 37.
Soni then had Killoran caught in the deep by Luke McCoy for 85 off just 68 balls.
At 219 for 5, Widnes were just about in the game but two quick fire 20s by Jack Williams and Andy Metcalf set up a daunting total of 261.
Youngster Aaron Soni bowled well without reward and Majeed only conceded 27 runs off his nine overs.
The Widnes run chase got off to a solid start with the Chester opening bowlers McCormick and Townsend being unable to make an early break through.
With McCoy back to his free flowing best form and with stout support from the veteran Kirby the score advanced to 72 before spinner Fleet had Kirby caught behind, seemingly off the glove.
Burns joined McCoy as the latter raced to his 50 and the score advanced to 94 before McCoy became the first of five victims for Matty Jones having made 66.
Luke McCoy was caught for five and shortly afterwards Burns holed out in the deep for 18.
McCurdy was cleaned up by Jones and Hafiz only made a couple. Majeed and Hewitt went for 12 and 1 respectively.
Soni remained 9 not out as Evans and Parkinson came and went for 2 and 3.
142 all out was well below a par score on what was a good wicket. After the game Evans reflected that going from 104 for 2 to 142 all out was an issue for concern.
Cheshire Cup 40 overs per side
Wallasey CC 155-8 v Widnes CC 158-3
Widnes win by 7 wickets
Widnes were looking for a much improved performance against Liverpool Competition opponents following their disappointing performance against Chester Boughton Hall the previous day and that was exactly what Captain Evans got.
All the bowlers put in a much improved performance and the batsmen, lead by the McCoy brothers, steered the team to victory with more than six overs to spare making 158 for the loss of only three wickets which caused long suffering supporters to scratch their heads at this dramatic improvement in form.
Captain Evans stuck with his team from the previous day with only one change.
Will Myers came into the team at the expense of the unavailable Ben Hewitt.
Wallasey won the toss and elected to bat and made a steady start with openers Crawley and Beaver bringing up the fifty in the 16th over.
Crawley became Hafiz’s first victim for 28 and Ward quickly followed to the same bowler for four.
Dan Beaver was next in the hutch, becoming the first of three wickets for Evans.
Cross could only add 9 before the entrance of captain Alex Eagles.
Although Greg Beaver and Matt Hughes could only muster four runs between them and Eagles made a steady 43 before Parkinson had him caught by Luke McCoy.
Parkinson added two more victims to his haul and the innings finished on 155-8 after 40 overs.
All the Widnes bowlers stepped up their performance and combined well to keep the required run rate to below four per over.
Once again Kirby and James McCoy got Widnes off to a positive start. With McCoy playing shots all round the wicket, Kirby was content to play the anchor role.
Having taken the score to 63 it was a surprise that Kirby was caught off the bowling of Cross for a patient 16.
Burns could only make five before being trapped lbw. McCoy, having batted with authority, departed for a well made 50 which included nine 4s. Luke McCoy was joined by Majid Majeed with both players looking to get amongst the runs after a couple of low scores.
Having played themselves in, both batsmen then set about the bowling with shots to all parts of the ground.
The target was reached with McCoy just one short of a well deserved 50 whilst Majeed’s 30 contained three 6s and one 4 with six overs to spare.
Evans was pleased with the win and hopes that it will give confidence to his team for the remainder of the season.