Hyde slip to worrying defeat

Cheshire County League Premier Division: Timperley 197-5 Hyde 193ao.

Hyde failed to build on last week's morale boosting win over Toft as they suffered a shock defeat at relegation threatened Timperley on Saturday. 

It's a defeat that leaves them looking anxiously over their shoulder with just six points between them and Timperley, who remain in the bottom two. 

After losing the toss Hyde were asked to bat first and skipper Tom Patridge strode to the crease with Noah Vickery, his fifth opening partner of the season. 

Hyde's top order have struggled for much of the season and once again they were soon in familiar territory as they slumped to 16 for three. 

James Duffy, a swashbuckling batsman, realised it was time to drop anchor while Cole Turner played with freedom at the other end. 

Turner has been a huge success this season, with both bat and ball, and once again he played in his own inimitable way hitting boundaries almost at will. 

When he was the fourth man out, for a breath-taking 42, Hyde had moved the score onto 67, but once again they lost a flurry of wickets and they were in deep trouble at 95 for eight. 

Timperley is well known for being a low scoring ground, but Hyde were still well short of a competitive total.  

Jason Whittaker showed all his experience as he and Ben Balderson took the score beyond the 100 mark. When Whittaker fell for 21 Hyde were 118-9, but what followed gave them hope. 
Youngsters Balderson (30) and Charlie Barnard (48) started to show the more established players how it should be done as they moved Hyde above 150. 
The pair added 74 for the last wicket as Hyde closed on 193 all out. 

The score looked more than competitive, but the wicket of Furqan Shafiq was always going to be key. 

Hyde did have the hosts 33 for one and then 54 for two but the dangerous Shafiq was still there and he was proving the difference between the sides. 

Whilst others struggled, he made light work of batting. When he finally went for a superb 90, Timperley were 140 for five still more than 50 runs shy of their target. 

However, they got there without any more scares as they claimed 25 crucial points in their quest for survival. Hyde picking up eight points. 

Saturday sees Hyde travel to second placed Didsbury.