Palmes impresses in vital victory
Garnett rolls back the years as Flint wins it in style
THE second team welcomed Stockport Georgians to Victoria road as Macclesfield looked to register another win after their success last week.
Captain Stuart Parks won the toss and elected bowl on what looked a bowler friendly wicket.
Stockport’s openers Christopher Dodd and Michael Kilbride strolled to the wicket to face Ben Farmer and Otis Palmes who were to share the new ball.
Very tight bowling and fielding in the opening spells of both bowlers, kept the run rate down as Stockport’s openers dug in and saw off the new ball after some economical bowling from Farmer, who went for just 6 runs off his 6 overs, whilst Palmes was supported him from the other end.
As the new ball became older, Dodd and Kilbride looked to show some intent, Dodd bringing up a well made 50.
Dodd fell to the bowling of Chris France, caught on the boundary by Charlie Ackerley with the score on 99-2.
In came Fahad Bashir who pushed the run rate up for Stockport, playing an array of positive shots, but he was eventually trapped LBW by Palmes, making a well made 36 off 33 balls, the 4th wicket with the total on 163.
During the death overs Stockport had a solid base with 5 overs left.
Henry Mitchell and Palmes were to bowl the final overs and took 6 wickets between them. It even included a perfect hat trick from Palmes having 3 batsmen clean bowled.
Stockport were to finish on 181-9 losing their last 7 wickets for 19. Otis
Palmes finishing with 4-23 off his 14 overs and Mitchell on 3-23.
The final score for Stockport was 181-9 off 50 overs.
Macclesfield’s openers, Palmes and France looked to start positively, Palmes fell for only 12 caught at first slip, with the score on 30 which brought the newly promoted Mitchell to the crease.
Mitchell and France built a solid partnership taking the score to 95 when France, who made a very patient 55, fell to the off spinner Iftikhar Hussain.
Mitchell was to fall shortly after for 22. This brought the score to 135-4.
The game was well in the balance for both teams to grab a win with Macclesfield needing a run a ball.
Adam Longshaw and Tom Carter were looking to deal with this chase in boundaries as they both were approaching the task in a very aggressive style. Carter unfortunately got bowled by Saul Turner, dismissing him but a vital 20 (one four and one six).
Longshaw dropped twice, countered on the missed chances and scored an unbeaten 58 off 52 balls including 7 fours and 2 sixes.
One of the fours being the winnings runs as a heave across the line paid off and went for a one bounce boundary.
Macclesfield chased their target down with 2 overs to spare and 5 wickets down. This showed great resilience and determination by the team as they look to guarantee safety.
●●NEXT week brings another vital game for Macclesfield as they welcome Didsbury who are one of the competitors for safety.
SUNSHINE greeted the players visiting the lovely ground and facilities at Chester Boughton Hall.
Captain Chris Flint in confident mood won the toss and elected to bat with James Ross & Yas Jain opening for Macclesfield.
Excellent opening spells from Chester bowlers Dave Fisher and Abhishek Mishra made it difficult for the Macclesfield openers with Yash dismissed in the first over, bringing Captain Flint to the crease earlier than expected.
Flint made his intentions clear from the start hitting the ball cleanly and with power with one maximum clearing the boundary and crossing the football field!
Initially assisted by Ross before an excellent partnership of 79 with Adam Sainter, Flint was eventually bowled by a high full toss after making a brilliant 62 from 65 balls.
The score at this point was 117-3.
Sainter and Richard Flint continued making good contributions of 42 and 17 respectively.
Miles Horner, Olly Jennings & Stewart Garnett were all dismissed quickly leaving youngsters Leo Burns & Ollie Mitchell to finish the innings, both managing very maturely particularly with the return of the Chester opening bowlers.
Burns finished on 19 not out & Mitchell with 13 not out giving
Macclesfield a total of 197 for 8 from 40 overs.
Youngsters Mitchell & Bruno Smith-Lomas bravely opened the Macclesfield bowling and despite both bowling with accuracy and a wicket in the first over for Smith-Lomas, the Chester batsmen scored quickly and a positive result for Macclesfield looked in jeopardy.
However an inspired change saw Miles Horner introduced to the attack who shifted momentum back in favour of Macclesfield.
Horner returned figures of 3 wickets for 29 from his 10 overs, a brilliant spell without doubt helping Macc in the hunt for victory.
Another highlight was watching Stewart Garnett roll back the years, not only brilliant in the field showing team members younger than him how to field with intent.
He took two deserved wickets, very economically, conceding only 8 runs off 7 overs.
Jennings also bowled with great economy, just 3 runs coming from his 3 overs.
Victory came with a brilliant run out from Captain Flint, unbelievably Chester needed just 1 more run to deny Macclesfield maximum points, Chester all out for 121 from 33.1 overs.
A real joy to watch, a great team performance with a well-deserved win and well done to Stewart Garnett for leading the team celebration in the changing room with the Macclesfield victory song!