The long trip to Aston CC

Wednesday 10th May saw the Mavericks on the road again, this time to take on Aston CC in a top of the table clash for the Cheshire West League.

The weather at Aston was perfect was under 11’s cricket, the sun was shining (right into the eyes of the scorers), the wind was light and the pitch was true. Unfortunately for Middlewich the ‘much loved’ SATS reared their ugly head at exactly the wrong time ensuring that the ‘salt town’ boys were missing 7 (that’s right 7!!) of their first team players. Unperturbed by this unfortunate turn of events the guys from ‘near the tip’ decided to field a mainly under 9’s team to give them a bit of experience with hard ball cricket. That and the fact that if the under 9’s hadn’t helped us out, me and Lee would have had to tie a pair of shoes to our knees, draw on some freckles and get out there and play ourselves.

The teams tossed up, but due to taking an hour and half to get to Aston, straight from work, I don’t know who won, so I’m not sure whether we were put into bat or if we decided to make them bowl. This information is now forever lost in the annuls of time. (Or I could just have asked Lee I suppose). No matter.

We knew this game would be a tough ask for the regulars, so we were realistic in our chances of winning with a young an inexperienced team. We were going to make mincemeat out of these pretenders to the throne.

The game kicked off with Evan TURNER and Sam FARELL stepping into the lion’s den with nothing but their guts and youthful exuberance to protect them from the Aston pacemen. That and a load of padding, a couple of helmets, boxes, gloves, thigh guards, pieces of willow…..etc.

From the off, Aston bowled tight and quick, both boys having to use all their defensive skills to ensure that although we didn’t score many runs, no wickets were to taken. ‘None shall pass’ had been the pre-match message to the courageous openers and this was played out in the middle with great effect. Having successfully blunted a useful Aston attack and having taken the shine off the ball, the boys left the field to a well-deserved round of applause.

Next up to bat was Liam GILL and Marco AZAKLI. Having decided again to ensure the batting pair had at least one batter with some hard ball experience appeared to be doing the trick. The two played themselves in but again it was difficult for the Mavericks to get the ball away and defences were put to the test.

The third pairing of the temporary Mavericks saw Liam CLORLEY and Joseph CARTILDGE step up to the plate together. Liam playing straight as ever, stroked a length ball for 4 that was, up to that point, the shot of the match. Both boys gave an excellent account of themselves and ran well between the wickets. Having notched up some very useful runs between them it was time for a change of pairs.

The fourth pair of batters, in the shape of Aiden CLORLEY and Liam WALKER, mobilised themselves into action and strode out to do battle in the middle. This time the Mavericks sent in boys who had both played some semblance of hard ball cricket. This plan appeared to plan appeared to be paying off as the boys batted with confidence and ran well together. Two glorious shots from Aiden saw him find the boundary twice and with a couple of other cheeky singles he completed his innings as top scorer with 10 runs.
Last but by no means least saw Mathew HITCHEN and Alex BOLTON make their way out of the hutch and onto the wicket. Again scoring proved difficult but both boys appeared to enjoy their time out in the middle and before we know it time had run out and the innings was over.

Last but by no means least saw the pairing of Mathew HITCHEN and Alex BOLTON come out to face the same pace attack that had opened the bowling for Aston and the first pair had seen off. The home team deciding on utilising the skills of the opening bowlers for three overs each to attempt to keep runs to a minimum. The two batted within themselves and appeared to enjoy their time out in the middle and before we knew it time had run out and the innings was over.
Finally the inning was over and we had a small total to defend. At the midway point the Mavericks had scored 248 runs and had only lost 5 wickets giving us a net total of 228.

After a quick slurp of juice and a couple of biscuits to replace the sugar lost during batting the boys from ‘Mine and Lee’s hometown’ took to the field with the halftime talk still ringing in their ears. ‘Do not ask what your country can do for you! Ask what you can do for your…’ oh wait a minute, that was a different halftime speech to a completely different audience.

Middlewich came out fighting and gave an honest account of themselves. We bowled some nice lines and fielded like boys possessed. All appeared to have a good time and the experience that they learnt on the night will be invaluable in matches to come. In the end Aston were just too good for us, that being said we gave a good account of ourselves and the coaches were more than happy with what happened in the middle.

Aston scored 301 and having only lost 3 wickets finished with a net total of 286. The game was up.

It only remained for the coaches to present the man of the match trophy to Aiden CLORLEY for a lovely batting performance and the players and family to make the 5 and a half hour journey back to civilisation.

Next stop OULTON PARK, and not so we can drive cars around in a circle at high speed, we have a cricket match there next week.
Well done Mavericks old and new,

Up the Mavericks,

Lee and Craig.