Saturday 24th April 2010

Mottram 248 For 9         Buxworth 251 For 9

Rusty Mottram under perform as Buggy just scrape it.

The new season started with an uncharacteristically sunny day with Mottram travelling to Buxworth, a team we will play 3 times excluding the cup due to the league format being changed.

With Stef distraught after the losing the toss Mottram bowled first, Rick Windsor and Mike taking the new ball, the latter picked up the first wicket of the campaign with the 8th ball of the innings whilst Rick couldn’t find his rhythm. After an expensive 3 over spell from Windsor Ayrton Fielding replaced him and bowled some good areas once he got into his stride. Whilst Ayrton picked up 2 vital wickets Scott was tiring and was soon replaced by Andy Burke, with his cheer squad in tow. An on going problem for the Motties was the fielding; at times it looked lacklustre, with little enthusiasm shown along with some very ordinary fielding on display, highlighted by several drop catches. Luckily the Buxworth innings was fading away during the middle overs with the run rate decreasing from the explosive start they made. Andy Burke bowled well throughout his 11 over spell taking 3-39 whilst Ryan Nixon bowled intelligently at the other end picking up figures of 3-53. Without these contributions Mottram could have been looking at a much larger total to chase.

Tea Report: - I don’t think any of the Mottram lads were expecting too much from Buggy as their teas are normally distinctly average, but it appears that improvements have been made. No complaints about the sandwiches and the addition of pizza, pork pies, mini Cornish pasties and some delightful ginger cake were well received.

The familiar opening partnership of Andy Metcalfe and Alex Birch took the field after tea looking to get Mottram off to a good start. However the former fell earlier on due to a good catch at silly mid on. Birch then made the most of some slack bowling and the ridiculously short boundaries at Buggy hitting the opening bowler for 19 and out of the attack. Rick Windsor joined in the fun hitting several maximums down the pitch. Both were looking good until Birch played one shot too many falling for 54 whilst Rick was out for 40. Stef Fielding and Jordan Irons then kept the score ticking over after Ryan Nixon was bowled for 3. Due to the good bowling the Mottram batsmen started to get a bit bogged down and the required run rate began to steadily increase. Jordan Irons, still recovering from bad burns batted will for his 42 but was dismissed with 10 overs left. Scott came and went for a duck leaving only the Fielding brothers and the tail. Stef continued to bat well for his 73 showing similar form to last year but soon Mottram were in trouble as both Ayrton and Stef fell in quick succession. This left it to Brad Wright and Andy Burke. Despite some lusty blows from the latter Mottram fell 3 runs short and rueing what could have been.

A poor start to a season in which we are looking to gain promotion, we were missing some key players but the main difference between the sides was in the field. Buxworth looked energised and active whilst we looked lacklustre resulting in dropped catches and 30 more runs than the home team disserved.

Michael Scott

Saturday 1^st May 2010

Mottram 108 All Out         High Lane 144 For 9

Top order fail as Mottram lose to High Lane

After the loss at Buxworth Mottram were looking to get the first win of the campaign against High Lane, normally a poor side, but one that we always struggle against.

With Stef Fielding away Liam Wright took the captaincy after coming back from a bad injury over winter to play his first game of the year.

Liam won the toss and put High Lane in who thanks to Mike Scott and Andy Burke got off to a sluggish start with the former taking the first wicket. However after 6 overs each they were both replaced by Ayrton Fielding and Liam Wright. Despite taking a good 3 overs to get lose Ayrton struck to take a wicket closely followed by Liam taking his first of 4 wickets. Ayrton took another wicket thanks to a good diving catch by Andy Metcalfe, it must also be noted that Andy took an excellent catch last week which didn’t get mentioned in the report. Ayrton finished with figures of 2-31 and was replaced by Alex Birch who picked up a wicket in his second over. Meanwhile Liam was still plugging away bowling in good areas and picked up another 3 wickets. In the final few overs Andy Burke returned to the attack to pick up his first wicket of the day but couldn’t manage another to give Mottram full bowling points. Despite the fielding being reasonable throughout the day there were several dropped catches, a sitter from Andy Metcalfe and a few behind the stumps by Jordan Irons to mention a few as well as the fielding getting very slack in the final 10 overs.

Tea Report: - Jane Scott and Wendy Irons were generous enough to step up the plate for the first 1^st XI home game and didn’t disappoint. A lovely selection of sandwiches, the team favourites sausages, wedges and pineapple to give an exotic feel.

Needing a good start to the innings on a variable pitch the top order failed with Birch, Elliot and Turnstall all going for ducks. Andy Metcalfe showed some resistance with his 18 as did Jordan Irons with 9, but there innings were both halted by bad shots on a pitch that was being exploited by Hanson. That left Ayrton Fielding and Mike Scott to try and salvage something from 25-5. Both played patiently and waited for the bad balls, which were few and far between from the Mottram End. However Ayrton soon capitalised on some loose bowling from the young bowler at the Broadbottom End to keep the score board ticking over. However the partnership, worth 49, was ended when Ayrton was cleverly bowled out by Eiselt for 32. Scott followed soon after for 18 as Hanson took yet another wicket on a pitch suited to his style of bowling. Despite some lusty blows from Andy Burke who is looking more accomplished with the bat every week Mottram were bowled out 36 short with 3 overs to spare.

Last week it was our fielding that lost the game, this week our fielding was definitely a contributing factor with some sluggish run out chances and slack fielding in the final 10 overs that gave High Lane 20 runs to many. However the batting was the area that let Mottram down this week with a few too many loose shots being played.

Michael Scott