11th Aintree Day proves big hit at Heaton Moor

MARPLE'S first ever encounter with Wirral outfit Maritime ended with a comfortable win for the visitors at the Michael Hibbert Cricket Ground last Saturday.

- GEOFF GARNETT

Maritime elected to take first knock, and Marple enjoyed their best part of the game, reducing the batting side to 50 for 4 early in the piece.

Jack Grundy continued his good form with the new ball picking up a couple of early victims, and with Owen Reilly unfit to bowl, Tom Reeve stepped up to bowl a fine spell.

However, Marple were unable to keep the pressure on the middle order. The spinners did not bowl with any consistency, and strangely, experienced slow left armer Eliot Young was not called on until the end, when much of the damage had been done.

Grundy fiddled around with his attack, and another bonus was the skiddy medium pace of Keagan Lynch, who after a couple of loose overs, settled into a testing spell.

Kalhara (51) and Sajith De Silva (28) got their team out of trouble though, they added 71 for the fifth wicket.

Any thoughts Marple might have had of going through the lower order were dashed, as Mickel Joseph (21) and Karunarathne (28) propelled Maritime towards the 200 mark.

Although Lynch eventually proved tricky to face, and Reeve returned to mop up things, the middle part of the innings was poor from Marple.

Too many loose deliveries were served up, and for the first time this season, the fielding fell a little below the high standards set, a fine boundary catch from Reilly notwithstanding. Marple's seamers figures were respectable enough; Grundy, 2 for 23, Lynch, 2 for 49, and the pick, Reeve 4 for 18. However, it was only a curate's egg of a performance this.