WHITCHURCH continued their good start to the season with a win at Madeley on Saturday – and skipper Alex Huxley says his side are “where we want to be” after three games of the season.

Huxley’s side were asked to bat first, and responded with 254-8 off their 50 overs.

An opening stand of 103 between Ed Watson-Jones (69) and Huxley himself (40) set the tone for the innings, and other useful contributions came from Ijaz Yousaf (35), Vansh Bajaj (29) and Andrew Ince (27).

“Ijaz suffered a flesh wound and had to retire hurt,” said Huxley, “but he was able to go back out afterwards. It wasn’t anything too serious.

“The pitch played better than it looked, but 254 was always going to be tough for Madeley to pass.”

As it happened, the home side were bowled out for just 117 in reply, as Bajaj and Dan Bowen took four wickets each.

Bowen finished with 4-28, and Bajaj 4-11 off 14.5 overs of impressive off-spin.

“Dan bowled a long opening spell, and came back later to take a couple more wickets,” said Huxley.

“Vansh was brilliant and finished the game off in the last of his 15 overs.”

Whitchurch face an “unknown quantity” when they take on Market Drayton on Saturday at Heath Road in a North Shropshire derby.

“Its a long time since I played against them, so I’ve no idea what to expect,” said Huxley. “But three games in, were in a great position – and everyone’s looking forward to every game.”

*For a full round-up of North Shropshire cricket, see this week's Whitchurch Herald.