Macclesfield look for answer to halt slide

MACCLESFIELD FIRST XI BY SIMON GRIFFITH

MACCLESFIELD 1st XI welcomed neighbours Bollington to Victoria Rd in an important fixture for both teams; for Bolly a win was required to give any hope of avoiding relegation and for Macc a win to arrest a slide toward the relegation places.

Jack Ward won the toss for the visitors and invited Macclesfield to bat.

It was a decision immediately rewarded when Harri Dickinson off his third ball had Jack Massey caught at slip by the skipper.

This brought Jack Mattson to the crease and he and Rob Porter endeavoured to establish the innings.

It was slow progress at a scoring rate under 3 an over, with the batters struggling to get spinner Aldo Palazzo away.

With the score on 36 Mattson was too early with a drive and spooned an easy catch to Rick Hough at mid off.

Khalid Sawas fell for 10 then Porter was the 3rd wicket, lbw to Toby Phipps for 41, with the score on 82 in the 29th over.

There was a desperate need now for Macc to up the run rate but when skipper James Cross was bowled by Ward for 10 with the score on 100, the rate was still under 3 an over.

A few parallels between the two players; both captains, both have played for both clubs, and James was Jack’s best man at his wedding a few weeks ago!

Sam Buckingham and John Birchall tried to accelerate.

They had a modicum of success, putting on 72 until Buckingham hit one in the air to be caught and bowled by Dickinson.

But with only three overs left it was going to be difficult to post a challenging score but 28 off the remaining 18 balls gave the score some respectability as the innings closed on 199- for 8 off 50 overs.

Birchall was the star batter with 66 off 48 balls including 3 sixes.

Dickinson finished with 2 wickets and 3 apiece for Ward and Phipps.

Palazzo, although wicketless, only concede 2.4 runs an over off his allocation of 15.

Macclesfield needed wickets.

Craig Melrose was as economical early as ever, conceding only 9 runs off his first 6 overs.

However Bollington openers Rick Hough and Ben Gibson took a liking to Miles Bradshaw’s bowling, scoring 32 off his opening 4 overs.

Skipper Cross changed his bowlers and got a reward when Hough was clean bowled by Brad Porter for 8 when the score was on 54.

This brought Ward to the crease and with Gibson quickly put on 60 for the 3rd wicket in 8 overs before Birchall trapped the latter for 68.

At 114-2 the home side needed quick breakthroughs but Ward stood firm and despite losing a couple of wickets took the visitors to the target with 11 overs to spare. At the close Ward was 91 not out off 93 balls with 17 4s.

So local bragging rights go to Bollington in what was a fairly straight forward victory.

With four games to go Bolly are 58 points behind third from bottom Bramhall so still a tough task to avoid relegation.

This week they entertain Alvanley at the Recreation Ground. For Macclesfield they need to arrest a run of three defeats as they travel to Sale.