OULTON PARK, Winnington Park and Middlewich had the opening-day smiles, but Weaverham were disappointing on their County League debut.

After reducing visitors - and possible title rivals - Alderley Edge to 26-5 and with Lancashire bat Mark Currie gone for a duck, Oulton looked poised for an easy victory.

Jason Whittaker (3-23) and Danny Jones (3-35) were behind the early hopes, but Alderley were rallied by Steve O'Shaughnessy (33) and Jonathan Usher (69) and put on 71 before John Davies (3-29) trapped them both.

The visitors reached 175 with 12 coming off the last over.

Oulton also got off to a poor start with Aussie Liam Buchanan out for a duck and Paul Berry run out by a direct hit from the boundary.

Despite this, Whittaker (68) and Danny Leech (33) showed the benefit of their winter in Australia with a stand of 54 before Leech was run out.

Mike Bentham (33) put on 64 with Whittaker and Oulton - with four wickets in hand and two overs remaining - needed four runs to win.

And they got them with a ball to spare, Oulton 178-8.

The 2nds were denied victory at Stockport Georgians after scoring 237-5 dec (Simon Torlop 91no, Nick Jones 43, Mark Johnson

42). Their hosts batted out 134-8 with 16-year-old Cheshire schoolboys' Ben Kettle (4-36) and Rick Moore (2-20) making inroads. WINNINGTON PARK were without David Leech, Tom Allan, Chris Leech and Ben Large (departed) and James Bunby and Simon Newell (unavailable) against promoted Birkenhead in Division One.

Park had to wait until the 15th over before they made the breakthrough, Jamie Cowell bowling Hunter with a yorker with the score on 29.

With the score on 86 in the 34th over, Cooper was dismissed by Stuart Hayes and Birkenhead crawled to 114-2 off 40 overs. But a late surge took them to 170-7 dec (Hayes 4-64, Cowell 2-50).

It presented a stiff challenge for Park's youngsters and it did not augur well when Paul Sinclair was lbw for two.

But John Lewis and Craig Little played confidently. Lewis stroked his way to 25 before he edged the ball behind with the score on 41.

Jim Pilling, just 15, then joined Little and picked off singles for 19.

Little sensed that if he stayed in the middle, he could win the game and so it proved. He played with care and maturity for an undefeated 104 - one of the best centuries seen at the club - and was helped by Tom Pilling, Jim's 17-year-old brother.

Park finished on 173-5 with three overs to spare.

Captain Mike Johns said: 'This win was about more than 20 points. We played a good team on an unfamiliar ground with a lot of new faces.

'The experience of winning a game like this to some of the younger players is priceless.'

Little added: 'I could not have done this without the support of Tom and Jim - they could not have played it any better.'

Skipper Howard Burtwistle needed a hospital check on an injured arm and had to retire from the 2nds game, also against Birkenhead Park, who were bowled out for 159.

But Winnington managed only 105 in 38 overs, despite an excellent 40 from Phil Amietello.

MIDDLEWICH made hard work of victory and WEAVERHAM disappointed in their first ever County League game in Division Two.

The derby was dominated by the bowlers - Gavin Tomlinson took 3-21, Phil Davies 3-21 and John Shepherd 3-23, as Weaverham crashed for 93.

But Colin Lewis (3-21) made sure it was not simple for Middlewich, but Chris Ainley (28) and Nick Lee (21) got the important knocks and they won on 94-7.

Dave Prime hit 66 and Jamie Williams 33 at Wallerscote Road when Middlewich also won the 2nds clash. They scored 199-8 and Weaverham were going well through Kevin Douglas (94) before tailing off to finish 170ao under pressure from Prime (3-15), Dave Parry (3-39) and Ben Cagna (2-36).