At New Brighton CC on Tuesday 25 June 2002
Cheshire won toss – Cheshire won by 91 runs
Cheshire / Derby Board
A.J.Hall / c Perry-Taylor b Bria / 138 / I.Parkin / b Eaton / 63
D.N.Leech / b Statham / 83 / J.Benstead / b Eaton / 38
R.J.Hignett / c Kahn B J.Benstead / 19 / R.Khan / st Ogilby b Fisher / 19
A.J.J.Crozier / not out / 39 / E.Crowther / run out / 15
N.D.Cross / not out / 39 / N.Statham / run out / 0
J.P.Whittaker / W.Bagshawe / c Ogilby b Eaton / 4
S.M.Eaton / B.Perry-Taylor / b Whittaker / 42
S.Ogilby / M.Ishtiaq / c Cross b Whittaker / 45
C.Lamb / M.Benstead / lbw Whittaker / 1
R.W.Fisher / Y.Anwar / not out / 6
J.C.A.Powell / A.Bria / c Whittaker b Eaton / 15
Extras / 39 / Extras / 18
Total (all out) / 357 / Total (all out) / 266
Derby Bowling / Cheshire Bowling
O / M / R / W / O / M / R / W
Perry-Taylor / 5 / 0 / 47 / 0 / Lamb / 6 / 0 / 48 / 0
Ishtiaq / 4 / 0 / 30 / 0 / Whittaker / 9 / 0 / 46 / 3
Khan / 9 / 0 / 53 / 0 / Fisher / 10 / 1 / 37 / 1
Bria / 10 / 0 / 58 / 1 / Cross / 5 / 0 / 40 / 0
Anwar / 6 / 0 / 51 / 0 / Eaton / 8.5 / 0 / 41 / 4
Statham / 3 / 0 / 35 / 1 / Powell / 6 / 0 / 36 / 0
Parkin / 10 / 1 / 40 / 1 / Hignett / 2 / 0 / 10 / 0
J.Benstead / 3 / 0 / 33 / 1
CHESHIRE'S WIN NOT ENOUGH
On a wonderfully sunny summer's day, ideal for good cricket, a strong J W Lees Cheshire County side easily beat Derbyshire Cricket Board XI by 91 runs at New Brighton.
Andy Hall (Bramhall) Cheshire's Captain, won the toss on a perfect batting wicket and, having eyed up the pitch and the fast outfield, decided to open the innings himself with Daniel Leech (Winnington Park). They proceeded to destroy Derbyshire's bowling with attacking stroke play all round the wicket, putting on 234 before Leech was bowled for 83. This was a record opening stand for Cheshire in this 50-over competition. Hall went on to 138 before holing out to deep mid-wicket. It was both players' best personal scores for Cheshire. Anthony Crozier (Bowdon) and Neil Cross (New Brighton), both 39 not out, kept up the momentum, taking Cheshire to a massive 357 for 3, at a rate of over 7 an over.
In reply, Derbyshire's openers, Ian Parkin and J Benstead, were far from intimidated, initially scoring even faster than Cheshire -50 was up in under 7 overs, 100 in 13 overs. Stewart Eaton (Oulton Park) made the break-through when Parkin, unluckily, played on off the inside edge for 63, and the next over he yorked Benstead for 38. Robin Fisher (BootIe) was by then in the middle of an accurate run-saving spell, and with Eaton they put pressure on Derbyshire's middle order which resulted in two run-outs. An 8th wicket stand of 86 delayed the inevitable~,
But when Jason Whittaker (Oulton Park) came back, he and Eaton quickly ran through the tail, Whittaker finishing with 3 for 46, and Eaton 4 for 41.
Sadly, this was not enough to take Cheshire into the knock-out stages of this ECB 38 County Competition, as last Sunday they lost to Staffordshire, failing by one run to make three off the last over, when they had three wickets in hand, so Staffordshire go through. If only. ...but that is the fascination of cricket!