CHESTER Boughton Hall's season gets better and better. They took over second spot in the Murray Smith Cheshire County League's Premier Division with victory over Wirral neighbours Neston on Saturday and then booked a quarterf inal place in the League Cup.
Chester were asked to bowl first at Park-gate and the pairing of Alex Kegg and Heath Pritchard gave a familiar display of new-ball bowling and finished with four wickets apiece.
After 20 overs, Neston had scored a mere 31 for the loss of two wickets. Fine fielding helped to build pressure and one by one the home batsmen succumbed. The total of 66-3 moved to 79-5 and Dave Atkin, bowling at his best, removed the dangerous Stan Clifford and the the rest folded for 125 all out. Steven Ogilby gave another superb display of wicketkeeping, bagging four victims.
The early loss of Pritchard did not prevent a one-sided finish to the game, but Ed Roberts continued his fine form, striking 41. Matt Griffiths returned to form with a sparkling 56 not out and the job was finished for the loss of just two wickets by Ogilby (24 not out) with a six to give the visitors 25 points. This put Hall just 10 points behind leaders Bowdon, who they visit tomorrow.
Sunday's visit of Toft in the League KO produced an exciting game. Chester faltered to 156 all out, Pritchard hitting a fine 76 with George Robinson and Kegg mustering 25 for the last wicket.
On a tricky wicket this should have been enough - and it was. Tight bowling from Kegg, Pritchard, Griff iths and David Shewring saw Chester home by 24 runs to book a quarter-f inal with either Congleton or Bredbury.
Chester thirds (Andy Chamberlain 42, Pete Cluderay 43, Jamie Ducker 20no, Sam Mallows 4-20) beat the fourths (Mark Jones 36, Cliff Mallows 22) by three wickets.
OULTON PARK had a double header against Macclesf ield with mixed luck. In the league on Saturday they looked to have the game wrapped up as Macc slumped to 72-5, thanks to a splendid opening spell by Whittaker and Eaton, but Buckley (57) and Tunwell (40) enabled the hosts to recover to 178. Whittaker finished with 4-54.
In Park's all-out reply of 143, Whittaker was hit on the hand and taken to hospital where a fracture was revealed.
In the cup, an opening stand of 118 by Kent (90) and Leech (16) gave Park a great start and they raced to 172-2 before eight wickets tumbled for 14 runs. This time Park didn't let Macc off the hook and the home side's last seven wickets fell for 32 runs as they crashed to 117 all out, Davies and Jones taking three wickets each.
Park now meet Didsbury or Widnes on August 10 in the quarter-finals.
CHRISTLETON made the short trip to TATTENHALL, who took the initiative as Mel Dobson scored a fine 90 in a second-wicket stand of 105. But Dobson was run out and good sustained spells of bowling from Guy Newell and Jason Ashcroft brought the visitors back into the match.
When the declaration came after 50 overs, a total of 171-7 was about par and Christleton knew that they would have to bat well to reach the target.
Skipper Jim Gillson was at the forefront of a reply that was untroubled until a moment of confusion led to his run-out for 43. Russell Crowley chipped in with a hard-hit 31, but wickets continued to fall and with eight overs left, a further 30 were needed.
Greg Malkin, who had hardly batted all season, strode to the crease and struck invaluable boundaries in a priceless 19 not out that saw the visitors home by two wickets and with three balls to spare.
The 20 points were a welcome fillip in the chase for the championship and Tattenhall also took 12 points to help them in the quest to boost their position.
After five away games, the Christleton players will be pleased to be back at home for tomorrow's visit of Mobberley.
Following four successive wins, their seconds came down to earth with a bang, bowled out for 95 by Tattenhall, who eased home by eight wickets. The thirds (284-5 dec, Chris Hollindale 121, Will Lamb 71) drew with Widnes (281-7).
ALVANLEY groundstaff def ied heavy rain to prepare an excellent track which encouraged Hale Barns to bat in the Meller Braggins Cheshire League. The f irst 14 overs were evenly contested with the openers accumulating 44 runs against the steady bowling of Phil Jones and 18-year-old Greg Erasmus who conceded only 14 runs off his f irst spell of seven overs.
Alvanley's breakthrough came in the form of a brilliant one-handed diving catch by Andy Senior at f irst slip off Jones. The introduction into the bowling attack of Dan Riley (5-57) and Senior (2-16) brought a flurry of wickets and reduced Hale Barns to 90-7, forcing the visitors to consolidate. A late revival enabled them to close on 153 all out in the 45th over with Erasmus returning to claim 2-28.
A slow start to Alvanley's reply delivered only 42 runs off the first 20 overs for the loss of openers Charles and Donohue. Dan Riley was promoted to improve the tempo and his 14 off 14 balls brought the best out of Glen Pickersgill, who went on to combine well with Senior to bring the target to 31 off the last five overs.
When Pickersgill was the fifth Alvanley player out for 53, the lower order struggled, particularly against the sharp bowling of South African Lowen who was helped by a very strong tail wind. Senior was stranded on 30 not out as Alvanley closed on 144-8.
Alvanley second team had a superb victory at Bowdon Vale. The hosts posted 187-6 in their 45 overs with 18-year-old Chris Jones taking 4-42 off 13 overs.
Mark Szymura was the star of the Alvanley reply with a magnificent 101 not out. His partnership of 67 with Reg Haslam (22) was enhanced by a fourth-wicket part-nership of 63 with GrahamSmith, and then Peter Roberts blasted 23 in three overs.
MALPAS'S four-match winning run ended at Weaverham where they crashed to 113 all out, Mark Dunning hitting 28. Weaverham had little trouble getting home by eight wickets in 24 overs.
The seconds scored 156-8 at home (Dennis Smith 39, Seb Neal 37, Ian Rees 31) before Weaverham clinched victory for the loss of three wickets.
Malpas hit better form in the Cheshire Shield at Winsford on Sunday when they totalled 256-6, Simon Hopper smashing a whirlwind 105 from 86 balls. Johnny Suckley added 63 and Dave Hunt 54.
In reply, Winsford were all out for 209 with skipper Andy Johnson contributing 110 from 94 balls. Mark Dunning and Stuart Bradley took three wickets each.
BARROW travelled to Port Sunlight who were asked to bat, a decision justif ied when John Davies removed both openers, helped by some good catches from wicket keeper Dave Ellwood and Gareth Pawlett.
With Mal Barrow taking a wicket, Sunlight were in real trouble at 14-3. A part-nership was eventually established before a majestic piece of quick fielding by Craig Hulme removed the Sunlight dangerman.
Sunlight were eventually dismissed for 92, Chris Cowell and Dave Downham both contributing to the bowling performance, but it was Davies who stole the show by taking 5-20 from 14 excellent overs. The bowlers were backed by an excellent fielding display, with Paul Owen and Phil Noble making top-draw contributions.
Barrow's batting was in direct contrast to that of Sunlight. John Davies and Nick Bell reached the required total in only 17 overs, with Davies being particularly aggressive with 67 not out.
CHESTER COUNTY OFFICERS completed the double over Ellesmere Port in the Shammah Nichols Cheshire Alliance.
Port batted first and made a dreadful start with Steve Johnson snapping up two early wickets and Tony Hattersley pulling off a superb leg-side stumping to remove skipper Phil Ashton off Andy Barlow, to leave them tottering at 8-3 in the 11th over.
But Colin Roberts (27) and Paul Isaacs pulled things round and Gareth Boys (17) looked dangerous after surviving a spilled chance in the gully off Mike Caulfield.
Mike Clarke (3-27) deployed his away swingers to great effect and brought the breakthrough that reduced Port to 97-9. Only a last-ditch effort by John Park (16) took the score to 125 before John Gilbody hung on to a stinger in the covers to end the innings.
Steve Johnson finished with 3-14 in 10 overs and Andy Barlow took two top-notch catches, while Gilbody took two crucial wickets in mid innings.
Officers started slowly against accurate bowling and Tony Hattersley and Tony Collard put on 31 before Collard played an injudicious shot to be caught at cover for 18.
Gilbody also looked at ease and the result looked assured at 73-1, but Hattersley played a tired shot to be bowled for 30. Caulf ield's previous invincibility against this opposition was shot to pieces when a flashing cut found its way into the hand of Boys at slip for a duck.
Gilbody lost concentration to edge to the keeper for 19 and Johnson's attempt to finish the game ended after a couple of hefty blows, holing out to mid-off for seven to leave the score 91-5, which became 91-6 two balls later as Park took his fourth wicket when he had Clarke caught behind.
Any thoughts of crisis were eliminated as in-form Ian Barlow (20) crashed three fours and brother Andy followed with 19 not out in partnership with Chris Wright, and a winning 126-7 was achieved.
The 20 points took Off icers to second place but there is nothing between the top five clubs and tomorrow is crucial as top team Stretton visit Upton.
On Sunday, Off icers entertain Parkside in the semi-final of the League KO.
KINGSLEY recorded another victory, this time at Glazebury. Under leaden skies, Kingsley won the toss and asked the home side to bat. Wickets soon kept falling, with Glazebury bowled out inside 31 overs for just 82, Adrian Burden snaring another seven wickets.
In reply, Kingsley made hard work of chasing the low total, losing seven wickets, but John Elliott with 29 and Mark Butcher with 27 ensured the win.
SAUGHALL got back to winning ways with a fantastic run-chase against CAPEN-HURST, whose 175-4 included 85 from Hughes.
With Paul Booth, Ben Salisbury and Les Perkins missing from the batting line-up, it was important Saughall's top order got the team off to a good start.
Twins James and Martin Huxley provided the solid foundation by posting the team's f irst 50 opening partnership of the season before James received a rising delivery and gloved through to the keeper for 27.
When Chris Andrews uncannily picked out mid-off shortly afterwards, Capen-hurst sniffed a chance with the score on 61-2, but Mark Tunnicliffe (12) added important mid-order stability in supporting the freescoring Martin Huxley as Saughall closed in on their target.
Youngster Andy Thomas once again impressed, scoring a personal-best 40 not out in good style and sharing in a 73 fourth-wicket stand that guided Saughall to victory with six overs to spare.
Martin Huxley top-scored with perhaps his best innings for Saughall, a terrif ic 86 not out as another excellent Saughall batting display gave the team the maximum 20 points to Capenhurst's 12.
