Irby won the toss and elected to bat, Hitchmough and Lea open and soon set about the Christleton openers with Hitchmough helping himself to 2 boundaries in the first over. With the score on 25 Hitchmough was cleaned bowled for 14, followed by the next  6 batsman none of witch could achieve a total greater than 4 leaving Irby 75 for 7 in the 28th over. The one constant in this was Lea who when joined by B Murphy looked to have found a partner to do his hard work justice. The pair put together a partnership of 42 runs in the next 13 over's before B Murphy was bowled trying to flick the ball on the leg side for an  important 16 runs. Lea tried to force the pace in the remaining over's with strong support from the tail, scoring 20 runs in the last 4 over's including a part run part staggered 5 in the 47th over.  Lea carried his bat and the inning to finish on 72 not out and irby 149 all out

Hurworth and L Murphy made short work of the Christleton top order with the pair taking a brace each. Hurworth bowled with pace and accuracy, clean bowling the opener for 4 and making short work of Christleton No 3 thank to Hitchmough holding onto a sharp catch at slip. L. Murphy bowled with luck on his side . 2 balls that can only be described as long hops were chipped up to fielders who both held on. This may not do Murphy justice,  he moved the ball both ways and ended with figures of 5-8-2 . Renshaw bowled 7 straight maidens before a disastrous 8th over conceding 8 runs meaning his immediate removal from the attack. McCaffery cashed in on the restrictive boiling from the other end . Removing the remaining 6 wickets with a display of bowling older than his years .

Making full use of all his variation he bowled Christleton No 6 between bat and pad with a googly , claimed  No 7 with a slider  5 and 8  fell to catches and bowling the No 10 around his legs with a conventional leggy not a bad spell.  Brown was the only other bowler to create a chance with a skied chance into the leg side failing to be held, before McCaffery took his 6th wicket to dismiss Christleton for 79

If I was asked to pick a man of the match for this one it would be to close to call,  they were both stand out efforts and resulted in the first Irby win, 22 points and Christleton sent home knowing no matter how many letters they send, they got well and truly stuffed.

G. LEA                    72  NOT OUT

B. MURPHY            16

A. HITCHMOUGH   14

J. HURWORTH         11~ 5~23~2

L. MURPHY                  5~1~  8~2

B. MURPHY                 3~ 0~ 5~0

S. RENSHAW             8~ 7~ 8~0

G. McCaffery       13~3~26~6

R. BROWN                   5~4~ 5~0

IRBY'S DISAPPOINTMENT IN THE DARK

Cold, Gray skis and a biting wind cant you tell it the start of the cricket season. Irby 2 XI travelled to Warrington for the season opener in less than pleasant conditions. As they arrived at the ground after a small Steve Renshaw detour the first order was a team pitch inspection. Well a walk out towards the square told the story, you couldn't see a strip until you got within 20 yards. Not to say it was a bad pitch but green and soft due to a lack of dry weather in recent weeks.

Fotheringham lost the toss and Warrington put Irby into bat. Hitchmough and Lea opened the inning and seemed to settle quickly and scored at a steady 2 runs an over until Hitchmough was bowled out for 8 in the 12 over. Lea played some impressive shots of the back foot finding the boundary but was also bowled in the 19th over for 17 leaving Irby 47 - 2. Hackett only managed 1 run in a short stay at the wicket and Irby were 49 - 3 by the 21st over of the day. Renshaw and J Hurworth then became the heart of the inning putting on 37 runs before Hurworth was run out for 21 having treated the few spectators to some sumptuous cover drives having survived a big caught behind shout at the start of his inning. Desilva joined Renshaw and between them added a further 46 runs before Renshaw was disappointedly run out trying to regain his ground after a standout knock of 53 containing 7x4 and 1x6. Desilva went soon after having contributed 14 runs and Irby now 137 - 6 in the 43 over. Fotheringham was bowled for 7 trying to get to 150 in 45 over's. Only when he returned to the pavilion he was informed the next batting point was 160, as the captain you would hope he know theses things. Venables was the 3rd run out of the inning trying to steel a second run in the dyeing over's with just 2 next to his name. L Murphy was also bowled for 14 shortly after putting the bowler straight back over his head for 4. Brown and Pullford remained not out with scores of 8 and 1 respectably to close the inning's on 168 -9 from 50 over's

Hurworth took the new ball and soon dismissed Warrington No 2 for 11 runs in a tight opening spell helped by the steady line of Pullford from the other end. Hackett then took over from Hurworth and again the Warrington batsmen found it hard to score, before Hurworth got his name in the book for the second time taking a catch to dismiss the other opening bat for 29. Hackett struck for a second time when Warrington's No 4 hit a long hop  to Lea to take his 1st of 3 catches without scoring. Hackett returned for 1 over at the death and finished with 2-13 off 9 over's. Brown replaced Pullford and the finger spinner took time to settle into his spell. He was of an opinion that spinners don't work if its less than 25 degree c. When his first ball bounced 4 times before reaching the batsmen he may well have a point . He struggled for length in the first few over but ended up with solid figures of 1 - 30 off 11 over's combining with Lea to dismiss No 7 for 3. Venables was limited in the over's available with Brown and Pullford tying up one end but still got into the action removing No 6 for 4 runs and Lea's 3rd catch. Venables also showed a cool head helping to remove another bat with one of 2 run out and ending with 1 - 14. Hurworth returned and took 2 further wickets clean bowling No 8 and 9 finishing with 3 - 25 from 10 over's. The final wicket is always the most important and 5 different bowlers were used in the last 14 over to try a wrap up a  victory but Warrington 10 and 11 held out leaving Irby to leave the field feeling that they had missed a great chance to get off to a winning start .