Cheshire County League
Christleton claimed an important victory as they narrowly defeated visiting Oulton Park to register only their third triumph of the season so far in Division Two.
Oulton Park won the toss and elected to bowl first and made a good start, dismissing Iftikhar Naseer for a duck off two balls and Uzair Walters for just eight runs.
However, Christleton captain Iroshan Da Silva lead from the front as he notched 52, including five fours, off 83 balls to help lift the home side. Nick O’Connell’s 19no was the next best offering from the home batting order as Christleton finished on 113-6 from a reduced 30 overs. Andrew Hards’ (4-45) was the standout performance from the visiting bowlers.
When Oulton Park took to the crease they were unable to offer up much resistance to the Christleton bowlers, for whom Steve Johnson shone with a superb 6-42. Martin East (37) and Ben Kettle (14) were the highlights for the visitors, who were dismissed for 111.
In the Premier Division, last season’s champions Chester Boughton Hall’s poor start to the season continued as they were forced to dig deep to draw with bottom club Oxton in a match reduced to 70 overs.
Inconsistent Hall, whose hopes of back-to-back titles are fading fast, were roundly outplayed by their lowly hosts, who, aided by Shaaiq Choudry’s 88, declared on 159-6 from 35 overs after being put in to bat first. Josh Henderson and Harry Killoran both took two wicket s apiece for Hall.
Hall struggled to get going at the crease, with Steve Ogilby’s 29 as good as it got for the visitors as they toiled their way to 94-8. The Oxton duo of Glenn Querl (4-34) and Gayan Fernando (4-45) were the wicket takers for the home side.
The result leaves Hall fourth in the league, 38 points behind table-toppers Hyde.
Elsewhere in the Premier Division, Neston lost by 71 runs at home to Bramhall in a 74 overs game, with the visitors knocking 207-6.
Neston started well but were eventually skittled for 136. Richard Wilkinson top-scored with 36, while Vishal Tripathi took 3-39 and Simon Wilkinson 3-50.
In Division Two, Tattenhall beat Heaton Mersey by four wickets at The Flacca after dismissing their visitors for 139, with Ollie Thompson the standout performer taking 5-14.
Sam Green led the way after tea with 66 as Tattenhall made 140-6 to claim the triumph.
Alvanley battled to a draw with Warrington in a reduced overs game to take five points.
Warrington hit 184-7, with Will Fleetwood’s 75 no the standout, while Alvanley responded with 113-9 thanks to Steve Charles’ 30. The result leaves them in third position in the league.
Cheshire Cricket League
Malpas scored a winning draw from their home encounter with near neighbours Chester County Officers in Division One.
Drizzly weather delayed the start of the match for over an hour before Malpas won the toss and batted first.
Chester made early inroads reducing Malpas to 49-4 thanks to some testing bowling by Graham Dodd (2-56) and Mike Clarke (2-56), aided by two tremendous slip catches by Steve Holland.
However, with the ball deteriorating in the wet conditions, Manny Nissanka (110no) and Aussie batsman Simon Grove (47) turned the game round as Malpas finished on 220-5 at tea.
In reply Chester also struggled early on against the new ball pace of Phil Johnson (2-21) and Grove (2-27), despite the resilience of Holland (six) and the returning Mike Jones (12), but rallied against the change bowlers as Roger Watt (40) and Scott Adams (28) rattled the score along.
When they were dismissed though , thoughts turned to saving the game and Ads Dev and Dodd safely saw out the later overs to finish on 125-8.
Chester's eight points took them up to 10th in the league whilst Malpas took 16 to maintain their position in the top half of the table.
Elswhere in Division One, Oakmere were soundly beaten by 88 runs at Prestbury.
Winning the toss and electing to bowl first, Oakmere found Prestbury’s batsmen to be in ruthless form, with Tom Livesley (75) and Dominic Asquith (43) leading the home side to a commanding 203-5 at the end of their 45 overs.
Visiting Oakmere struggled to get their batting charge firing in reply, with Alex Hodges dismissed on the very first ball.
Paul Yearsley did attempt to take the fight to the Prestbury bowlers and offer some resistance, registering 32 off 42 balls before falling to an lbw off Xavier Frawley, who took 5-54 to do the damage to the visiting batting order.
James Norton’s knock of 26no was the next best offering for the visitors, who were eventually dismissed for just 115.
In Division Two, Bunbury emerged victorious from their trip to Kingsley, running out convincing winners by 87 runs.
Kingsley won the toss and elected to bowl first but the Bunbury batsmen were in good form, making 203-9 from 42 overs before declaring.
Kingsley were unable to muster the response needed to take the win and slipped to defeat after making 116-9 from their 38 overs.
Cheshire Alliance
In Division One, third-placed Saughall took on second-placed Stretton with the game ending honours even.
Stretton batted first and despite two early run-outs notched up 196-9, but the total could have been much lower as visiting Saughall were left to rue a number of missed catches.
Spinner Jay James (3-43) was the pick of Saughall’s bowlers while there were excellent catches from Adam Griffiths and youngster Matty Leek and James Huxley.
Saughall’s reply got off to a bad start when Huxley and Griffiths departed early but 59 from skipper Ben Salisbury and excellent contributions from Ben Dean (33) and Martin Huxley (32) gave the visitors a glimmer of a successful run-chase.
Ten an over were required off the last six overs but wickets fell in the fading light and Saughall opted to shut up shop, eventually finishing on 153-6 and picking up 12 points to Stretton’s 13.
One low point for the visitors was the loss of Mike Barrow who was taken to hospital with a broken bone in his hand.
Ellesmere Port are still in search of their first win of the season after falling to another heavy defeat, this time at the hands of Appleton.
Home side Appleton won the toss and elected to bat and had Richard Clarke (103no) and Ali Sharid (53) as they declared on 193-4 from 38 overs.
Port could not rally and produce a fightback and found themselves dismissed for 53 inside 30 overs to hand the hosts victory.
An excellent batting display from Westminster Park saw them claim victory at Bowdon Vale in Division Two.
The home side won the toss and elected to bowl first but found Westminster Park in excellent form with the willow. Ameen Ab Rafi opened on 59 before further solid knocks from Naseer Majid (30), Ahamad Shareef Mohamed (22no) and Charan Kondoor (21) to help the visitors to declare at 190-6 from 40 overs.
Bowdon Vale were dismissed for 143 in 49 overs, with Banu providing the magic as he took 5-31.
