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Champions find life hard in opener

6/ 5/2008

ROCHDALE Carcraft began their defence of the CLL title at Unsworth on Saturday, but found themselves on the wrong end of a 48-run defeat.

Dropped catches, missed stumpings and a generally lacklustre performance both with the bat and the ball didn’t help Rochdale’s cause one bit, but all credit to Unsworth for setting their stall out right from the word go.

The home side, batting first, began somewhat sedately on a slow wicket, but despite some fiery bowling from Steve Oddy, Rochdale were unable to get the breakthrough they wanted.

The opening pair had been together for 35 minutes when veteran Paul Entwistle was clean bowled by Oddy with the score on 16, but after that Rochdale’s bowlers were made to toil. Sharif and professional Wayne Madsen played very circumspectly as Rochdale skipper Simon Brierley shuffled his bowling attack.

Madsen, in particular, looked solid, and the score moved on to 70 before Rochdale achieved a second breakthrough. This came when Dominic Ayres, fielding at mid-on, swooped smartly on the ball and ran out Sharif with only one stump to aim at.

Madsen continued hitting bad balls away to the boundary on his way to a fine 59 before he was trapped leg before by Neil Avery with the score on 124.

Sixteen-year-old Scott Butterworth had been introduced to the Rochdale attack, and after a wayward first over in which he conceded 12 runs he found his length and line to give hint of a promising future.

Left-arm spinner Dane Currency proved a trifle expensive, going for 25 in his four overs.

Avery plugged away manfully, picking up one for 68 in 13 overs, but his cause was not helped by two dropped catches and a missed stumping.

Professional Alcindo Holder also bowled economically, collecting four for 36 in eight overs, but Unsworth’s final total of 195 for seven was obviously a challenging one.

Rochdale’s cause was not helped when openers Brierley and Andrew Dawson went cheaply.  Dawson was first to go, caught behind by Barlow off Blake for two, and he was quickly followed by Brierley who was clean bowled by Sharif for five.

At 25 for two Rochdale had a mountain to climb and although the big-hitting Holder looked comfortable he had reached only 21 when he was caught at deep mid-on trying to hit over the top.

Adam Smith batted patiently for a well made 23, while Ayres (21), Avery (14) and Butterworth (23) all got into double figures, but it really needed someone to get past the 50 mark for Rochdale to get them close to Unsworth's total.

This they failed to do, and they were finally dismissed for 147.