Well with the losses to Ashley then Bollington the first team knowing promotion push had fell short took the road for the longest away trip of the year all the way to Romiley .

The hosts in third place and in hot pursuit of the top two and after the early season wash out the first time the teams had played.

Captain Owen won the toss and set out to bat first , the pitch like most around the county was used and dry . After half a hour the decision didn't look like it's was going be wise with Mo and Macca both gone early as the ball moved around early .

29/2 the Left handed pairing of Camden and Dixon met at the crease and had to whether the end of the new ball attack before starting to get I to there work . Camden after a week away looked back to his best with some fabulous cover drives , meanwhile after looking every bit his age for the first ten balls Dixon clicked into action.

The change of the bowling to spin set a change of pace for the Upton , Romiley being a small boundary seemed to signal both batters to try and lift the rate. Dixon got a couple away for a maximum down the ground until Cammy got the driver out the bag and proceeded to hit a six into Gee cross , and little a week before saying Yeatesy had hit the biggest six of the year he was quickly dethroned.

Shortly after Camden was trapped LBW for 43, Dan Owen came to the crease and the SLA looked a very different propersition to the Right hander. This also gave a insight to how the game would take shape later. Owen built a new partnership with Dixon and got into his work.

Lee went past 50 and a score well over 250 looked a certainty at 172/4 Dixon had hit his 3 maximum of the day and looking to go again when mistiming one on 69.

The next 30 minutes was not some of our best cricket as quickly McCormick went to a smart catch on the boundary,Brayne chipped one to mid on and then Dan after working his way to 27 manage to finish short going for 2.

In the blink of a eye the bowlers were blown over by the Romiley attack and when McGowan was knocked over by the returning Romiley captain the impressive left arm seamer Hooton 16 runs had been added for the last 6 wickets 188.

A mixture of thoughts went around the changing room at half time , some believed the pitch had enough in it . And a few cursing the batters as they thought it was a 250+ deck.
Even at this point it was extremely clear Upton would need a massive performance from spinner Dave Williams on a wicket which had just started to show signs of real dryness .

The first five overs from McGowan and Brayne is a tough one to explain , expect we bowled better lines and lengths than recent weeks and very few extras . The only issue was the home sides opening pair were letting loose with extremely positive shot making and fair to say our ginger opening pair were less than amused.

Captain Owen like the devilfish in the world series of poker decided after 5 overs he was going to lift the metorforical sunglasses and put Upton all in .
Dave Williams was set up at the bottom end everyone knowing that he had 10 overs to get us into this match .

This brought instant rewards with the first wicket with the score on 48 after 6 overs. Dave was away and time for MO to bring Zebber to the party.
Umer had bowled very well the week early and came charging down the Romiley hill.
The home crowd had grown and had loved the early onslaught but there was a feeling in the ground when Zeb trapped there star man Willet LBW without scoring that the confidence was slipping out of the home team.

The next half hour was some very good and positive cricket from the Upton side , aggressive fields and excellent bowling from the pair brought regular breakthroughs. And in a blink of a eye 105/7 Williams had got himself a fine five wicket haul (5/36) putting Upton in the box seat . To many following at home this was now going to be a straightforward wrap up of the points . Of course not as Division two you never know what's next and Romiley instead of blocking out Williams last over decided that it was counter punch time. Opening bowler Snape proceed to hit four slog sweeps four six opening the game right up .

The experienced Hancock for Romiley and Snape moved the team closer to the Upton total . Owen rotated the bowler and went back to Zeb and Snape had just got a little nervy on 49, giving a simple catch to macca at backwards point. Huge break through. Cammy replaced Dave and it was super tense around the ground.
10 more runs slowly added before Zebber got his forth of the day sending the number 10s stumps all over the place.

While Hancock was there the game was in the balance and the last pair add another 10 , just 11 to win .
A close shot was turned down but almost straight away Cammy got the vital breakthrough.

20 points on the road. Some brilliant individual performances. And shows that we can certainly mix it with the best sides.

Roll on OP at home next Saturday.