Thomson knock tees

N Saturday Macclesfield First XI (sponsored by Henbury Travel) faced Urmston in an away game as they began their 2025 league campaign.

- JON CURWEN

On winning the toss, skipper Jack Massey elected to bat and got things off to a fine start by driving the first ball of the season for four through the covers.

After that, however, it was a struggle for the Macc batters as Urmston bowled tightly. Macc battled through to the fifth over but then suffered a double blow as Massey was caught behind before Andrew Poppa was trapped lbw leaving the team on 14-2.

James Longhorn battled hard and started to look more fluent with a number of boundaries before he fell for 17.

At 34-3, Macc needed a recovery and found it thanks to a crucial partnership between Alex Thomson and Leo Burns on his first-team debut.

The pair batted carefully but were harsh on any loose delivery.

Gradually they batted Macc out of a tricky situation, to parity and then into a position of strength with Thomson reaching his 50 in the process.

The partnership eventually ended in the 31st over with 134 on the board, so exactly 100 added, when Burns was caught for 31, his calm and mature innings coming from 57 balls with four fours.

John Birchall joined Thomson and they added another 57 runs in 10 overs as more boundaries were hit and the scoring rate was climbing.