LAWRENSON HAS A BALL TO SECURE POINTS FOR NORTON IN HALES

MATT Lawrenson delivered a five-star performance with the ball in Norton in Hales seconds’ NSSCL Division Five win at Alsager.

Alsager were chasing 195 to win, but never got close as Lawrenson produced an impressive spell of bowling. He ended up with 5-19 to skittle Alsager for 109, helped along in the bowling department by double strikes from Charlie Hine and Jamie Shaw.

Chris Mckeown (24), Jeff Maynard (21) and Matthew Freeman (20) made the most progress with the bat. Lawrenson had earlier chipped in with 30 with the bat in Norton in Hales’ 194-7 from their 40 overs. Matt Waller (33) and Simon Belfield (37) also impressed, but it was James Ruscoe who was the main man.

He hit eight fours and two sixes in his 60 to put Norton in Hales on track for their impressive total. Stephen Groom, Michael Hindle and Andrew Watkins all took two wickets for Alsager. Caverswall seconds won by seven wickets on their trip to Blythe.

Blythe could only muster 118-9 from their allocation as Robert Ratcliffe, Lewis Wright and Sam Barker shared six of the wickets to fall.

Mark Stanyer’s 36 and 20 not out from Ray Ginders were the batting highlights for the hosts. Caverswall required less than 24 overs to knocked off the runs, led by Sam Wainwright (36), Rob King (31no) and Glen Moore (30).

Little Stoke seconds made home advantage count to beat their Meir Heath counterparts.

Zak Mosam (32) and Sohail Hussain (19) made starts for Little Stoke, but at 95-9 they were in danger of not putting a competitive total on the board.

But a last-wicket stand of 44 between Jack Palmer (21) and Ben Alcock (17no) helped them to 139 all out. Fahzad Aziz picked up 3-27.

Aziz made 20 with the bat after tea, but James Murphy and Hussain claimed 4-13 and 3-24 respectively to dismiss Meir Heath for 100. Sandon eased to a home victory over Knypersley seconds.

Andy Wootton’s 41 was the bedrock of Sandon’s 158-9, in which Callum Landon, Marcus Kiely and Jack Muni all took two wickets. Knype couldn’t muster any momentum in reply and although Andrew Jones made 18 not out, they were bowled out for 93. Sajith Fernando did the bulk of the damage with 3-21, aided along the way by double strikes from Steve Greatholder, pictured, Mark Attwood and Greg Swanwick. Burslem romped to an eight-wicket win at Stone SP thirds.

Stone SP were bundled out for 90 as Junaid Qureshi captured 5-14 and Farhan Ismail chipped in with 3-3. Toby Flower top-scored for Stone SP with 18, while Joel Davies, Sam Bamford and David Flower all made 17.

Liam Pattison (36no) soon had Burslem celebrating their second straight win since securing promotion from Division Six. Woore won by five wickets at home against Ashcombe Park.

Ashcombe Park seconds put themselves in a strong position by amassing 184 all out on the back of Steve Proffitt’s 46 and Lee Slater’s 40.

Nick Goodwin (26), Peter Farrow (22) and Rich Knott (20) were also in fine fettle.

George Walker was the pick of the Woore attack, finishing with 3-24. Woore had more than seven overs left in the tank when they picked up the points.

A third-wicket partnership of 102 between Usman Yaqub (53) and Matthew Kenvyn (52) proved to be the difference.

Toby Egerton and Tas Hussain weighed in with 29 and 26 respectively, while Proffitt took two wickets.