OULTON Park went top of the Premiership after an outstanding display of fielding and bowling at Chester Boughton Hall on Saturday.
Their effort was spearheaded by brothers Chris (4-29) and Danny Jones (4-42), the first nine wickets falling to catches with the brilliant Mike Bentham taking four behind the stumps and Paul Berry claiming two, including a tumbling, diving effort which lifted the village team.
Danny Jones had removed the previous week's century-maker Warren Goodwin for a duck and Cheshire all-rounder Jason Whittaker snapped up Aussie Adam Bull (23) and Andy Bennion (0) off successive balls.
Chester were 29-3 but Eddie Roberts (42) and Steve Ogilby (34) rescued the innings to take the hosts to 93, before Chris Jones's left-arm spin started to work its way through the Chester batting.
When Danny Jones returned for his second spell, he was just too quick for the Chester tail and Hall were all out for 140 off just under 50 overs.
Any Park thoughts of an easy victory were soon forgotten as Alex Kegg (2-42) and Cheshire spinner Robin Fisher (4-57) had the top order back in the pavilion with only 46 on the board, but Bentham and John Davies steadied the innings and when Bentham was out for 18, Park had reached 97.
Danny Jones then picked up the pace with a quick 24 and Park were home and dry by four wickets.
Park seconds had a five-wickets victory over Tattenhall and the thirds (226-8) cruised to victory against Congleton (142).
Chester seconds hit 239-7 (Phil Thomas 71no) at Toft who were bowled out for 200 (Martin Thornton 6-50).
After bowling Irby out for 151, the thirds went on to clinch an eight-wickets win, Ed Mitchell hitting 59 and Mike Hooper 65no, while the fourths scored 206-9 before bowling Brooklands out for 182.
In Sunday's Cheshire Cup second round, Chester hit 165-7 (Matt Griffiths 55) in reply to Upton's 164.
Christleton followed last week's away win with another hard-fought victory on the road at Birkenhead Park - and again Maroof Khan was their batting star.
After the hosts had restricted Park to a competitive 184-8 from 51 overs, Simon Ratcliffe and Guy Newell taking two wickets each, they opened with Ratcliffe and Khan who soon found runs hard to come by on a slow pitch against an accurate bowling attack.
But Chester College student Khan stole the show, finishing 100no to complete a superb seven-wickets victory. He has now taken his season's run tally beyond 300 and the victory was all the sweeter as it justified skipper Matthew Parkinson's decision to rest star batsman Jim Gillson.
Christleton host Grappenhall for the first time in a league encounter tomorrow with a Village Knockout group semi-final clash at Oakmere on Sunday.
Christleton seconds had a three-wickets win at home to Irby, scoring 130-7 (Rogers 44) in reply to 129, Brian Wareing taking five wickets.
Tattenhall went down by eight wickets at home to Division Two leaders Heaton Mersey and although they were unlucky with some of the decisions which went against them, some of their batting lacked application.
After another poor start and some highly dubious umpiring decisions, Tattenhall staggered to 58-5 and 82-7 and were staring another below-par target for the opposition to chase.
However, Robin Mulvihill, batting number six, provided the backbone of a recovery, batting intelligently, choosing the balls to hit and reaching 63 in more than a run a ball, before holing out at mid-off.
The lower order offered solid support and Tattenhall reached 169ao - a competitive score, but probably 30-40 runs short of putting sufficient pressure on the big-hitting opposition.
Heaton Mersey started badly with Simon Carruthers taking a wicket early on, but Costello (75no) and Rachid (68) played well against decent bowling.
Chris Fowell, fresh from his trip to Iceland, had no luck, having both batsmen playing and missing. Heaton Mersey eventually reached their target with 11 overs remaining, for the loss of two wickets, and their South African all-rounder Behardien hit Dawson over the hedge for six to finish the game.
