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Hope is lost

29/ 8/2007

Alderley Edge's title hopes ended with a five-run defeat in a controversial match at Chester Boughton Hall.

Edge fell short in a game they looked odds-on to win and should never have lost from a strong position.

Captain Mark Walker won the toss and elected to bat second at Chester, and Edge immediately had Chester in trouble when Sohail Rauf smartly dismissed Warren Goodwin.

Spinners Charlie Reid and Mark Warnes then put the squeeze on the Chester batsmen.

Apart from 61 from opener Matt Griffiths, Chester struggled to come to terms with accurate spin bowling and the home side had only 156-7 after 55 overs.

Batting through the maximum 60 overs, they put on 185. For Edge, Reid took four for 60 and Warnes two for 42.

When Edge batted, a couple of concerted appeals from the Chester fielders led to both openers being controversially given out.

The Edge innings was then carefully rebuilt by Sohail Rauf with a well crafted 67 that put Edge in to a strong position at 168-6 with four overs to go, needing just 17 for victory.

From there it all went wrong for the Alderley batsmen and Edge were all out five runs short of the target.

Jon Usher contributed 25, and Nick Reid and Adam Wildig 22 each to the Edge total but it was not to be and their title hopes ended.

Good wins for Neston, Oulton Park and Hyde last Saturday have left them fighting it out between themselves for the Cheshire ECB Premier league title.

Edge are away next Saturday to Urmston who could only draw with Toft last weekend and also now look out of the title running with just three games still left to play.