Timperley 184-9, Middlewich 121-8

Murray Smith County League Division 1B

MIDDLEWICH made a promising start, but were ultimately pleased to come away from their trip to Timperley with a draw.

Phil Davies was brought on to bowl his spinners after only 10 overs and with his first ball he took a wicket, Gavin Tomlinson taking the catch.

A further wicket for Davies and one for Nigel Stubbs had Middlewich in a strong position with Timperley reeling at 53-4, but a 50 partnership for the fourth wicket wrested the initiative away from the visitors.

Davies kept plugging away, though, and finished with excellent figures of 6-50 from 19 overs. Stubbs finished with 2-26 and Stuart Price 1-54 as Timperley's innings closed at 184-9.

In reply Middlewich slumped to 32-3 before a recovery was initiated by Geoff Tomlinson and David Bates, with the former playing the dominant role and being particularly harsh on the dibbly-dobbly spinner who disappeared to the boundary on several occasions.

After both batsmen had departed, Middlewich were not left in a winning position and so Timperley were invited to bowl them out.

This they failed to do as Andy Tutt batted doggedly for more than an hour to deny them, while Stubbs played a restrained, defensive role - completely against his natural inclinations - before smashing the last ball of the game to the fence to show the home side what he could have done in a more attacking situation.

The draw keeps Middlewich handily placed in the table.

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