Back to winning ways for Middleton Cricket Club

Middleton Cricket Club

On Saturday (16 May) the 1st XI returned to winning ways with a five point victory over Milnrow. There were some standout performances with both the bat and ball which helped Middleton gain maximum points from this encounter.

Middleton batted first and made a competitive total of 215 for 7 with many of the top order making good scores. George Walker set a good foundation and amassed 65 runs.

His partnership with Kemm was an important contribution as the pair put on 54 for the second wicket before Kemm fell on 37. With the score 84 for 2, skipper Jones came to the crease and showed great positivity and began to attack the Milnrow pro Price; smashing him back over his head on three occasions in one over. Eventually Price got his man. However the damage had been done as Jones returned to the pavilion with a selfless innings worth 80 of 69 balls.

Confident to seal the win Middleton took to their bowling innings with a sense of belief and confidence which perhaps had been lacking in recent weeks. There were a number of good performances. Mark Buckley’s opening spell was prolonged as he began to rip through the Milnrow batting order. This meant that Kemm had to come on at the Hollin lane end and unsurprisingly he produced another good performance taking 2 wickets.

The run out of Milnrow pro James Price by Zane Tahir was arguably the turning point. Having been warned of Price’s speed between the wickets from Kemm the previous over, Tahir attacked the ball at mid wicket and sent the stumps flying with Price scrambling to reach the popping crease. As Price made his way to the pavilion Milnrow were 47 – 4. The departure of Price took the wind out of Milnrow’s sails. They were eventually bowled out for 129 off 42.3 overs, with the number 10 batsmen top scoring with 30, after a valiant effort to restore some pride.