Phair Ton, but Marple Fall to Lowly Davenham!
Marple 185 for 7 (50 overs) 4 points, lost to Davenham 189 or 5 (48.3 overs) 20 points by five wickets.
Marple’s slump continued, as they were beaten at home, once again, this time by a disciplined and determined Davenham side. The visitors applied the age old virtues of consistent line and length with the ball, and excellent application with the bat, not taking undue risks, and punishing, severely, the bad deliveries.
Marple were asked to take first knock, but struggled against generally tight bowling from the Davenham seamers and spinners. Zac Phair, promoted to number three, held the innings together, and Marple would have been in a sorry state but for his maiden century on English soil. Coming in at 16 for 1 after the fall of Matt Barrow, he batted through for a fine 103 not out. He added 41 with James Crisall, 20, and 48 for the fifth wicket with Mark Bennett, 18, who was making his first appearance of the season. Phair hit 13 fours in his ton, but the rest of the card managed only six boundaries between them. Mid season talk of rotating the strike if batters were unable to find the boundary went out of the window, as the opposition bowlers were all allowed to settle. The firm pitch was not a batters’ paradise, but 185 felt maybe 30 to 40 short of a par score, with outfield quick.
For Davenham, leg spinner Muhammed Abid had 3 for 43, and slow left armer Reece Johnson a nagging 1 for 22. The three seamers were steady, but were “allowed” to bowl by too many Marple batters.
Although Johnson rode his luck at the top of the order, with Jack Grundy beating his outside edge several times, the Davenham batters were resolute in their chasing down of the total. Grundy did have his man, lbw for 15, at 33 for 1, and Ed Saxelby had Martyn East caught behind by Wild for 26 at 54 for 2. Abid, the rock, then held things together for his side with a secure 54, with Gough, 47, slightly the more aggressive in their match winning stand of 88 for the third wicket. The pairing was not in a great deal of difficulty throughout. Maybe conditions had eased a little, but Marple did offer up a few freebies, possibly striving too hard to take wickets. They did not bowl that badly, but the control of the early part of the season was not there. Joe Cash was as tight as usual, but did not pick up a wicket, with 0 for 20. Makin had two for 33, and Phair, a little off colour with the ball maybe due to his earlier exertions, 1 for 41.
Marple slip to sixth in the table, now very glad of the terrific start to the season. The winning habit has been lost, and it is mainly the batting that has struggled to fire, with no plans seemingly in place to target the weaker bowlers in the opposition line up. Next Saturday, 24th August, sees a long trip to the scenic ground at Oulton Park, with a start time of 11.00am, apparently to accommodate a single opposition player with a Cheshire game on the Sunday.
Marple seconds made a welcome return to winning ways with a fine 8 wicket victory at Sale. The home side were kept well in check on the usual good batting surface, being bowled out for 164 in the 47th over. Omair Iqbal made 33, Tom Smart 44, and Jamie Coombes 30, but they never totally dominated. All the Marple bowlers did a fine job. Sam Stretton, 2 for 24, James Hirst 4 for 50, Joel Greasley 3 for 40, and George Clarke a miserly 1 for 17 from ten overs.
The top four for Marple were all in great form, as the winning post was reached with 12 overs remaining. Dan Cox, 35, shared an opening stand of 56, with George Pearson , 31, who was making his first appearance of the season. When Pearson fell at 80 for 2, an entertaining partnership of 88, unbroken, eased Marple to victory. Stretton ended 40 not out, and Tommy Lloyd was brutal with a knock of 56 not out from just 36 balls faced, hitting 11 fours. Only Mark Soanes, with 2 for 25, including seven maidens, was able to exert any pressure for Sale.
Due to withdrawal of the Alderley Edge third team, there was no game for the Marple/Compstall fourth eleven at the Michael Hibbert Cricket Ground last Sunday.