Leek vs Audley.
Matchday 9 takes me to Highfield for the first time this season. Leek come into this game having won three on the bounce as they continue their rise up the table. They’ve gone from 10th to 7th with those recent victories and are beginning to look like a threat after their poor start. Audley crushed Whitmore last week to stop a run of 2 consecutive defeats. They sit 9th in the table, just 8 points behind the home side. A win for either side could move them up the table and away from danger.
Leek won the toss and elected to bat on a warm and muggy afternoon. Hamaiz Mahmood opened the scoring with a beautiful square drive that ran away to the point boundary in the opening over. Matt Morris was then lucky to survive when he attempted two big drives in the 4th over. The first flew over point and the second went to fine leg off an inside edge as he made a scrappy start to his innings. Alex Coates found some extra bounce to find Mahmood’s edge in the 5th over. He was well caught by Ali Hamza Waseem low down at first slip to leave Leek 12/1. Morris flicked Coates to the square leg fence for his first boundary from the first ball of the 7th over.
Ed Jones then trapped Morris LBW when he attempted another big drive in the 10th over. It appeared high and possibly going down leg side; it wasn’t the best decision by the umpire, in my opinion, but it left Leek 24/2. Audley’s opening pair had bowled very well in the opening overs of the game; they’d hit a good length and hadn’t given many scoring opportunities. Alex Mellor clipped a leg stump half volley away to the mid-wicket boundary in the 12th over as the home side cautiously moved to 36/2. Coates was unlucky when he found Tom Moulton’s edge in the next over, but the ball landed just short of Waseem at first slip. Mellor played a perfectly balanced on drive to round out the over before he miscued a pull shot and was caught at mid-on by Jack Redman off the bowling of Ben Mellor to leave Leek 46/3.
Sam Slater pulled a Mellor short ball through mid-wicket before Moulton drove well through the covers to take the score to 63/3 after 20 overs. Mellor claimed his second wicket when he trapped Slater LBW with a very full ball in the next over as Leek lost their 4th wicket. Moulton was quick to latch onto a Mellor short ball in the 24th over, and he smashed it over the mid-wicket boundary for the first six of the afternoon. Moulton was taking his time and building a good innings against the disciplined Audley attack.
Moulton had a life just before the drinks break when he dropped by keeper Archie Doorbar, who was standing up to Rob Hemmings medium pacers. It was a thickish edge, and Doorbar was unable to cling onto a tough chance. Leek reached 78/4 at the drinks break with Moulton 23*. The Audley bowlers had bowled really well in the hot and humid conditions.
Kieran Carr then hit a Waseem short ball straight to Huey Neild at mid-on to depart two balls after play restarted. Moulton struck a fine extra cover drive to the boundary to end the 29th over with the score on 84/5. He was then caught in the covers as he attempted a big shot off Waseem when he tried to smash the ball down the ground after he advanced down the wicket to leave Leek in serious trouble at 87/6. It was a poor shot from Moulton, who was trying to hit against the spin and had been so patient in his innings so far. He departed for 28 made from 68 balls in nearly two hours as Audley began to take a hold of the game.
Waseem found turn and bounce to catch the edge of Anis Raza’s bat two overs later as Leek continued to lose wickets. Jack Bowcock became Waseem’s 4th victim when he was caught at cover off a leading edge to round out the 36th over. Greg Willott drove powerfully through the covers for a boundary in the 39th over as Leek moved to 98/8. Oliver Mellor pulled a Freddie Doorbar long hop to the square leg boundary before he was pinned LBW by the off-spinner’s next ball as Leek fell to 110/9. Waseem took a sharp catch at slip to dismiss the last man, Rory Corden, off Huey Neild as Leek were bowled all out for 130. Willott finished unbeaten on 22 as he squeezed 31 runs out with the tail for the last two wickets. Waseem was the pick of the Audley bowlers; he finished with 4/10 off 13 overs as no batsmen was able to get on top of his left-arm spin.
Freddie Doorbar drove Moulton through the covers for the first boundary of the innings in the opening over before Alex Mellor put a tough chance down diving away to his left behind the stumps. It went fast, but it was at a catchable height, and he’ll be disappointed he couldn’t hold on. Doorbar crashed a boundary through the leg side in the 3rd over when Moulton strayed onto his pads. Oliver Wilde was then involved in a mix-up with Doorbar and was run out attempting a second run when the ball went down to third man. He came back for a second only to be sent back by Doorbar, and he was well short of his ground when the throw came in.
Moulton trapped Waseem LBW when he went back to a full ball to leave Audley 18/2. Waseem misjudged the length completely and was hit bang in front of all three stumps on the back foot. Doorbar scored his 3rd boundary when he drove Moulton through the covers before he chipped a simple return catch back to Willott as Audley slumped to 26/3. That became 26/4 when Moulton beat Ash Rogers for pace in the next over. The ball may have nipped away a touch off the seam, too, but Rogers was beaten all ends up. The Leek bowlers were really turning the screw, and scoring opportunities were few and far between.
Redman nicked Mouton between slip and gully before he pulled a rare short ball from Willott to the mid-wicket boundary as the score inched towards 50 in the 20th over. Archie Doorbar struck a flighted delivery from Raza straight down the ground for a one-bounce four as Redman and Doorbar continued to accumulate steadily. Redman again edged through 2nd slip for another boundary in the following over.
Corden broke the partnership when he took an excellent return catch off Doorbar in his follow-through when he mistimed a drive. Corden dived forward and took the ball just above the turf as he had to change direction and his momentum to take the catch to leave Audley 64/5 in the 25th over. Hemmings began positively when he swept Raza behind square for his opening boundary before Redman continued his good knock when he clipped Corden to the fine leg boundary to move to 30* and take the score to 75/5.
Hemmings struck a massive blow over long-on as Audley made it to 83/5 at the drinks break. The game was very much in the balance. Half an hour of Redman and Hemmings batting together would swing the game in Audley’s favour when play restarted. If Leek could snaffle a couple of quick wickets, they’d be right back into it. Hemmings continued to attack after the restart, and he slog-swept Raza for an enormous six over deep square leg before the wily left-arm spinner beat his outside edge three times in a row when he found turn and bounce two overs later.
The visitors’ 100 came up when 5 runs came from the 33rd over as they slowly crept towards their target of 131. Redman then nearly ran out Hemmings when he called him through for a tight single when Hemmings pushed the ball to Slater at point. Slater gathered well but couldn’t hit the stump at the bowler’s end, and Hemmings survived. Moulton took an excellent catch above his head on the deep square leg boundary to remove Hemmings for 31 off the bowling of Bowcock in the next over as Audley still needed 19 runs for victory with only 4 wickets in hand. It was a crucial breakthrough as the Redman and Hemmings partnership was taking the visitors towards victory.
Jones flicked Moulton to the backward square leg boundary before he was bowled two balls later to leave the score on 121/7 as the drama continued to unfold. Moulton had got the ball to nip away once again, and it beat the defensive stroke of Jones to give the home side a glimmer of hope. Redman found the mid-wicket boundary from the first ball of Bowcock’s next over to leave the visitors 6 short of victory. A single into the leg side followed three balls later, before Coates flicked another single to fine leg to leave Audley one hit away. Coates then smeared a drive through backward point in the next over to seal a tense and narrow three-wicket victory for his side. Redman finished unbeaten on 45 from 110 balls and was the rock during the chase. He really did bat superbly, and Audley would not have won without him. His defence was solid throughout, and he was prepared to bat for a long period of time to see his team over the line. Leek will be disappointed because if they could have scraped another 20 runs or so, they could have gotten over the line themselves in this game.
With their victory, Audley move up to 7th in the table and have now won two on the bounce. Leek fell back to 9th as their 3-game winning streak came to an end in a very good game of cricket played in front of a big crowd at the beautiful Highfield ground today.
Teas – There was a small selection of sandwiches, sausage rolls and brownies available at the bar. The sandwiches were on nice bread, the fillings were good quality, and it’s certainly nice to have something available. They were, however, a little overpriced for what they were, in my opinion.
6 and a half sandwiches out of 10.
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Brilliant 👏 thanks mate, Malc