Tough day at the office

With the lower half of the Cheshire county league division 1 table beginning to tighten, Middlewich entered Saturdays eagerly anticipated local clash with newcomers, Weaverham hoping to issue a dominant performance on home ground.

Captain Nick Gill won the toss and opted to ask the visitors to bat first in confidence that the bowlers would restrict well enough for a 2nd innings run chase. Leandro du Toit took the new pill and soon made a couple of important inroads, dismissing 2 of the top 3 with some fiery pace and appropriate use of the short ball, which proved difficult to play early in the day. Middlewich’s promising start unfortunately didn't lead to greater honours as Weaverham duo, Wilden Cornwall (87) and Kevin Waterhouse (96) set about an aggressive onslaught in a partnership which set up visiting captain, James Lewis to crunch 77 from 47 deliveries in the closing stages of the innings which finally closed on 310-6 from 50 overs. Middlewich overseas, LDT, took 4-92 from his 13 over stint as all but vice captain, James Cornford, went for more than 5 runs an over.

With such a daunting run chase ahead, Middlewich got off to a limited start with the top 4 returning to the pavilion with 18 runs between them, courtesy of some good bowling from Weaverham’s opening pair and a few unfortunate dismissals. resistance was issued by captain, Nick Gill (44), who continued his good form for the season along with wicketkeeper, Kristian Clowes (28). unfortunately Middlewich were never able to make any serious progress towards the total and set about securing as many points as possible with the remaining overs. Stuart Price (39) provided some later order runs to push the home side to 159 all out, which was well below par.

Moment of the Day
On a day which offered little for the Middlewich faithful, James Williams produced a fine catch at long on, late in the Weaverham innings to dismiss James Lewis.

Captains Corner
“After all the build up through the week it was very disappointing to lose todays game in the manner in which we did. All the players know where they can improve and i have no doubt we will be training hard and working on aspects of our game which we can put into practice next weekend”

Middlewich make the trip to Timperley next weekend in their County Division 1 campaign.