Champs elect dig in deep to beat seconds

MACC 2NDS JON CURWEN

IN their penultimate game of the season, Macclesfield seconds invited table-toppers Lindow to bat first.

The innings proved to be a classic “game of two halves” with the opening overs being a tight affair as Macclesfield restricted the scoring with batsmen stuck in defensive mode and a second half with far more aggressive run scoring and wickets tumbling as risks were taken.

Opening bowlers

Ben Curwen and Ethan Morris tied down the opening batsmen who couldn’t hit boundaries and struggled to rotate the strike.

Pressure told in the 11th over as Mahmood tried to hit Curwen off his length but merely chipped the ball up to Adam Longshaw who took a simple catch, making the score 14-1.

As an illustration of the control of Curwen and Morris had, it took Lindow until the 15th over to get to 20 runs. Curwen finished with figures of 7-3-5-1 and Morris 10-3-20-0.

While the scoring rate was low, Lindow had kept wickets intact and they started to up the tempo slightly against the change bowlers Otis Palmes and Mubeen Chaudhry.

The introduction of spin resulted in the next wicket, Sam Hughes having Ian

Park caught by Longshaw for 41 making the score 98-2 in the 36th over.

The last third of the innings was like a highlights package as Lindow either scored boundaries or lost wickets to Hughes and fellow spinner Charlie Ackerley.

Hughes finished with 4 wickets for 61 and Ackerley 3 for 38 and there were catches for Chris Moores, Tom Isherwood (who also pulled off a run out) and one for debutant wicket keeper Arayman “Ray” Sharma.

Ray, who joined Macclesfield’s U15 team this year, was very tidy behind the stumps and was being watched via the match live feed by family in Bangalore and Assam!

Macclesfield needed a good start in their chase of Lindow’s total of 171-9 and were doing well through openers Otis Palmes and Chris Moores until Palmes was adjudged to be LBW to

Thompson for 14 when the score was 22.

Moores and Adam Longshaw built a partnership and were relatively untroubled taking the total to 52 in the 18th over when Longshaw was out caught.

This was as good as it got for the home team as there was then a double breakthrough for Lindow as Moores and then Sam Hughes fell leaving Macclesfield on 66-4.

Skipper Tom Isherwood and Ben Curwen batted carefully for a few overs and added some singles but both perished caught in the deep trying to hit big shots. They were immediately followed by Chaudhry who was caught behind.

All this left Macclesfield on 75-7 and the game effectively over but there was still time for young Sharma to show his batting ability as he made 14 from 33 balls, looking very much at home batting at a second team level, until falling LBW to end the innings on a disappointing total of 97.

Lindow fully deserved their victory which left them almost certain to win the league but

Macclesfield should be encouraged by the fact that many of the good parts of the game for them came from performances from academy players, not just experiencing adult cricket but thriving in that environment. ●●MACCLESFIELD 3rd team travelled to Stockport Trintiy. The home team were bowled out for 111 with Ben Farmer bowlig 8.2 overs, 3 maidens and took 6 wickets conceding only 12 runs. Despite scores of 33 from Mitch Moores and 31 from Oli Becroft

Macc were dismissed for 99 off 37 overs.