Comprehensive victory for Milnrow CC at Micklehurst CC

Milnrow CC maintained their fine start to the season with a comprehensive victory away at Micklehurst CC.

After being put into bat, Milnrow did not make a great start and were 45-3 after 13 overs.

Alex Willis, Lee Crabtree and crucially, professional Rudi Second, were the wickets down and skipper Max Power did what he does best by stabilising the innings and then leading the team towards a strong score.

He was supported well by Fanie De Villiers, who scored 28 good runs with several boundaries, and then by Ian Helliwell, who scored 32.

Helliwell's innings was an important one as Milnrow needed someone to stick with the captain and build the innings and he did this in an accomplished way, hitting five boundaries before being bowled when trying to be aggressive.

The key innings for Milnrow was Power's, and he reached his 50 from 80 balls and then kept the scoreboard ticking over to move to his century from 124 balls. It was a fine innings, with good placement and he was always quick to punish the bad ball. When he was caught on the edge for 106, he had helped move the Milnrow score to 238.

Positive batting from Jack Wynn and Charlie Lloyd Jones at the end ensured that Milnrow finished on 265 for nine.

Milnrow's opening bowlers soon made inroads into the Micklehurst batting. De Villiers removed Clayton in the third over and he then bowled Darnborough for a duck.

Although there were a number of boundaries scored by the Micklehurst batsmen, Milnrow's bowlers bowled many good balls and took regular wickets.

There was a controversial turning point in the game when Briggs edged Brown to Helliwell. Helliwell looked to have spilt the chance but the ball did not hit the deck and was caught between his shins. Helliwell appealed and the umpires upheld the appeal.

From this point, Milnrow took regular wickets. Power took a couple of good catches and both Brown and De Villiers were on four wickets and were battling for the 'five for'.

It was De Villiers who took the final wicket with a catch from Brown to finish with five for 24 - a well-deserved reward for bowling with great rhythm and pace.

Brown beat the bat on many occasions and finished with four for 42.

Overall it was another excellent victory by Milnrow, who now have maximum points from their first three league matches.