Buoyed by their win last week Chelmarsh Cricket Club travelled to Lilleshall to play their 4th XI. Our players were eager to put in a good performance and were in a positive mood from the moment they got to the ground.
Lilleshall were no strangers, having been promoted alongside us last season. Could Chelmarsh once again overcome a team they were promoted with?
Will won his second toss in a row and once again elected to bowl first on a wicket that he thought would help the bowlers.
Chelmarsh takes the field
Will craved a good start and so he went to the experienced duo of Andy Callaghan and Paul Glendinning as his opening partnership. Both Paul and Andy bowled well the week before and Will hoped for much of the same.
The veterans did not disappoint.
Paul Glendinning finished with 1 wicket for 11 runs from his 8 overs with his wicket coming courtesy of a Kieran Wilson catch.
Andy Callaghan went for 16 runs from his 7 overs even though he was unable to contribute in the wickets column.
Lilleshall crawled into the forties for the loss of 1 wicket.
As with the Cound game, Fensome once again turned to Chelmarsh stalwarts, Andy ‘Big Rig’ Unitt and ‘Scuba’ Steve Lampitt. Both bowlers took a wicket apiece with Unitt also being pretty economical.
Lilleshall were 80-4 with the other wicket being a run out of opener David Bristow, for 9 runs from 68 balls. Bristow just struggled to get going facing some very tight bowling.
Will and Kieran Wilson were the next two bowlers to test the Lilleshall batting lineup.
Will ended up taking 1 wicket for 13 runs from 3 overs before he gave the ball to Joey Ellis-Perks. Ellis-Perks didn’t have one of his better days. He ended up conceding 26 runs from his 4 overs for nothing in the wickets column.
Wicket taking Wilson
Wilson, however, was the pick of the bowlers. He finished with 4 wickets for 41 runs from his 7 overs. He bowled 3 and his 4th wicket was an lbw dismissal.
Chris ‘Fester’ Holmes had a quiet day behind the stumps only conceding 9 byes.
More concerning though was that Lilleshalls top scorer was bowling extras. 26 wides and 8 no balls resulted in 34 runs for the home team.
A 40 run partnership for the 10th wicket allowed Lilleshall to get to a competitive score of 174 from their 40 overs.
Chelmarsh required 175 runs from 40 overs to win.
Chelmarsh reply with the bat
Will elected to open the batting with Andy Unitt as Matt Evans was not available this week.
Chelmarsh got off to a strong start with Fensome and Unitt playing shots and scoring freely and had gotten to 93 before Fensome slashed one to point and was caught for 32.
Quick wickets lost, Unitt powers on
Andy Callaghan had a blink and you will miss it innings. Out driving the ball back to the bowler for a simple caught and bowled chance. Chelmarsh had gone from 93-0 to 93-2.
Andy Dyke was the next man in. Lilleshall took 3 balls to remove Dykey but in between Unitt had started to really go through the gears so when Dykey was bowled for 1 run Chelmarsh had moved onto 116-3.
Joey Ellis-Perks was the next man to join Unitt at the crease. Chelmarsh still 60 runs away from their target.
Similar to Andy Dyke before him, Ellis-Perks didn’t survive many deliveries for his 2 runs. Crucially, Unitt was still batting at a different level and so when we lost our 4th wicket the score had moved onto 136.
Calming Influence
Paul Glendinning joined Andy Unitt at the crease with us still 40 runs shy of our target.
The two veterans used their experience to calm the nerves and see the mighty marsh over the finish line for a 6 wicket win.
Andy Unitt finished on 85 not out scoring at a run a ball. Glendinning backed him up brilliantly finishing on 10 not out.
Chelmarsh finished on 175-4, 20 points well earned.
If, after reading this report, you are interested in joining us at the marsh then please contact Andy at [email protected], everyone is welcome and we would love to have you aboard.
