1s Mob Mobberley.

A tricky batting surface resulted in a low scoring but by no means unexciting match at The BCG as the First XI hosted Mobberley in the Cheshire County Cricket League 1st XI Division 2.

Skipper Jack Bagshaw won his second consecutive toss and elected to put Mobberley into bat on a cold and grey afternoon and it wasn’t long before former skipper AJ Hart struck. The very first over in fact saw Mobberley opener Ben Leigh (0) nibble at one outside off stump with Kev Carroll taking the catch in the slips low and to his left.

Mobberley quickly adapted to the difficult conditions and dug in with other opener Will Berisford-Ince (13) and Mark Goodstadt (18) putting up some resistance before Hart (2-14 off 10) removed Goodstadt leg before and first change bowler Rob Leach (2-12 off 7) got Berisford-Ince caught in the slips by Christian Hart.

Youngster George Forman (1-21 off 6) continued to pick up wickets during his 6 over cameo, clean bowling Abdul Aqeel before he had time to turn his dangerous looking 15 into something more substantial.

It was then down to the slow left arm of Kevin Carroll to remove the rest of the Mobberley lower order, all of whom failed to cause the scorers too much trouble. Carroll notched 2 lbws and 2 clean bowled with the pick of his wickets being an audacious close catch by Alex Edwards at short leg.

With just 39 overs gone and the visitors all out, The Bears were looking to make short work of their target of just 77, however, the home teams innings appeared to mirror that of the away teams as Bagshaw fell early for only 1 run. Chris Hart (17) and Kevin Carroll (14) steadied the ship with the pair scoring 3 off the 5 boundaries in the whole innings before falling victim to Mobberleys oversea seamer Hank Schlaghecke (4-35 off 14.5).

Camped out at the other end, Abdul Aqeel (4-35 off 15) picked up the wickets of Alex Edwards, AJ Hart, Ali Buchan and Sam Higgins, all of whom failed to make it into double figures.

Calm heads and sensible batting was required which is exactly what Caleb Jones (10*) and George Foreman (5) provided as the pair edged the home team run by run towards their goal. With Foreman caught behind after he was tempted by a short and wide delivery from the tiring Schlaghecke, Rob Leach joined Jones at the crease.

Leach looked cool and assured as he battled to 13 not out from 35 balls to give the home team a hard-fought win and another 25 points.

An excellent start to the season for the First XI who travel to third placed Hale Barns next Saturday and will hope to keep their winning start going.