Skipper Chris Wright’s doughty performance led Chester County Officers to victory at Lindow in a match in which both sides lacked confidence.

After inserting Lindow, CCO were indebted to seamer John Warrington ,who exercised total control with 7-40. A rare event in his performance was an attempt at a caught and bowled off the Aussie pro that deflected onto the umpire’s head and thence for a simple catch to mid on. Graham Dodd (1-22) Mike Roberts (2-20) helped dismiss Lindow for a paltry 104 aided by outstanding fielding from the young Officers.

But Chester’s experiment with the batting order collapsed to 5-3 in the first three overs. There followed a protracted battle for runs with only Roger Watt (40) showing attacking intent. Wickets fell regularly but Chris Wright battled away to end on 23no as John Warrington confirmed his man of the match status with two late mighty blows as CCO reached 105-8.

Chester CO take 20 points from their second win to stay in the top half of the table.

Malpas suffered their first defeat of the season in comprehensive fashion, going down by 141 runs at Stockport Georgians.

Chasing 206 for victory, Malpas never looked like they would achieve their target and were bowled out for only 64 off 33.1 overs.

It was a struggle throughout for the Malpas batsmen against an accurate Georgians bowling attack. Only Rickett (21), Parry (10), Maneesha (10) and Ramith (10) reached double figures.

Earlier in the day Georgians built an impressive total of 205 around opening batsman H.Bailey’s innings of 89 which encompassed 159 minutes off 118 balls faced.

Malpas opening bowler Phil Johnson was again impressive with 6-52 including five wickets in a second spell which, together with Simon Grove, helped instigate a mini collapse as Georgians lost their last five wickets for nine runs.

But it was too little, too late, as the Georgians eased their way to victory.

Oakmere claimed a six-wicket victory at Hale Barns, with a superb 5-8 from Nick Guest helping to aid the task as the visitors bowled out the home side for just 120.

After electing to bat second, Sam Catling notched 41 and Guest 24 as as Oakemere registered 121-4 for the win.

In Division Two, Barrow fell to a 63-run defeat at Langley, with W Ryan-Beswick’s 77no the highlight for the visitors, who failed to build on last week’s victory over Woodford.

Langley won the toss and elected to take to the crease first, setting the visitors a target of 217-9. Despite Ryan-Beswick’s efforts, Barrow couldn’t make the target and were bowled out for 154.

Travis Martin’s 47no helped Kingsley to a draw at home to Disley.

The home side won the toss and elected to bowl first, with the visitors declaring at 188-6. The draw was shared after Kingsley managed to scrap their way to 101-8.