Youngsters star in Macc T20 win M
ACCLESFIELD 1st XI travelled to Urmston to play two Twenty20 fixtures on Saturday morning.
The Urmston skipper won the toss and elected to field in the first game.
Due to an ongoing dispute with local residents, the bowlers were to only bowl from one end; just to confuse things!
This year’s ever-present duo Angus Thomson and Alex Griffiths opened the batting for Macclesfield and put on 13 before the latter was caught. John Birchall came and went after finding the boundary a few times bringing, Sam Buckingham to the middle. The ex-Kings schoolboys started steadily knocking it around to see off the opening bowlers.
The duo then began finding the boundary with Thomson hitting five sixes including clearing the fence and hitting into the neighbouring Grammar School. The excellent partnership of 80 was eventually broken when Buckingham fell for 29. Craig Horner came on to bowl for the hosts and bowled very well taking wickets of James Cross and Miles Bradshaw and the Macclesfield lower order struggled to score off him. Fin McCance scored a run a ball 10 but it was Angus Thomson who took the spotlight reaching his own half century, eventually finishing 64 not out. Macclesfield finished 137/7 off the 20 over allocation.
In reply Zeeshan Assi and Arav Shetty opened for Urmston and looked very promising until John Birchall got the breakthrough with the score at 37. The hosts looked to rebuild with Harry Singh before he fell for 11 to Ben Curwen’s first wicket of the day.
Only Arav Shetty (32) and Matt Thomas (23*) made double figures after this. The 16-year-old duo of Ben Curwen (4-19) and Jack Massey (2-18) starred for Macclesfield as their restrictive bowling and wicket taking took the visitors to the win by 30 runs.
In the second of the two fixtures, Urmston again won the toss, this time electing to bat first. Paddy Turner made the early breakthrough with the score just 8 to remove Harry Singh. The hosts rebuilt, running well and looking to find the boundary. Jack Massey broke the 40 partnership when he had Zeeshan Assi caught on the boundary for 22. The third wicket then put on another 66 runs as Arav Shetty reached his own half century and Matt Kilcourse smashed a quickfire 49. Wickets for Chris Moores and John Birchall restricted Urmston to 138/6 from their 20 overs.
In reply, Macclesfield again opened with Angus Thomson and Alex Griffiths and made 28 before a mix-up causing the latter to be run out. His opening partner made a run a ball 23 before falling to a good catch. Another run out cost Sam Buckingham his wicket. Further wickets fell as James Cross and John Birchall both were caught looking to catch up with the required rate. Miles Bradshaw and Ben
Curwen struggled to find the boundary and instead locating fielders; on another day they could so easily have found the boundary. Macclesfield came up just short, finishing 120/8. Miles Bradshaw finished 32 not out with Jack Massey 15 off 10 in the last few overs.
The 1st XI welcome Congleton to Victoria Road next Saturday on a weekend worth double points. The Macclesfield 2nd XI welcomed Cheadle on Saturday to play two Twenty20 fixtures of their own.
Electing to field first Tom Radley made the very early breakthrough in finding the edge of the opening batsmen without troubling the scorers. However, Macclesfield struggled to take more wickets as Cheadle looked strong early on, against some loose bowling.
The visitors found regular boundaries until Nick Moss caught the opener Ben Samuels for 35 off the bowling of Henry Mitchell.
Robert Venables made his half century well supported by number four Matt Samuels as Cheadle finish 144/3 but not before Ethan Morris took a wicket. In reply, Dan Isherwood opened alongside James Coombes but it was not a great start as both fell cheaply to good bowling by Alex Read. Tom Carter came in at number three and continued his excellent form from last week as he regularly found the boundary. However, at the other end Macclesfield lost wickets cheaply with Moin Shah starring with the ball (finishing 4-11). Staying behind the rate, Tom Carter was eventually caught for a well made 34 but it wasn’t enough. Henry Mitchell and Stuart Parks both made double figures but Macclesfield were all out for 99.
In the second fixture, Cheadle won the toss and asked Macclesfield to bat first. Starting steadier, Dan Isherwood and James Coombes both made double figures early on.
However, wickets fell bringing Adam Longshaw to join James Coombes in the middle. The useful partnership was broken when the opener was run out for 20. Longshaw fell for 26 to a good catch before Chris Flint was bowled.
The lower order then looked to post a defendable total which began with Nick Moss (12) and Tom Radley (19*) followed by the tail who were all run out cheaply, desperately trying for crucial runs to up the total.
Macclesfield finished 105 all out on the last ball of the innings. With the ball, Macclesfield started very well as Ethan Morris removed both opening batsmen. Ben Samuels (18) and Theo Wong (26) both looked dangerous for the visitors but fell to a Tom Carter catch and an Adam Longshaw run out respectively.
The hosts then restricted well and took wickets at key times with Tom Radley taking two of the lower order but Cheadle just reached the Macclesfield total with only three balls remaining to win by two wickets. After a disappointing day for a very young side, the 2nd XI, they will travel to Didsbury next Saturday.