Chester Boughton Hall missed the chance to make up ground on ECB Premier League leaders Toft with a three-wicket defeat at old rivals Hyde.

Put into bat, Hall had a nightmare start and found themselves five wickets down before reaching 50 runs before skipper Lee Dixon (41) offered some resistance.

A swashbuckling 77 not out from Jack Williams that included two sixes and 10 fours helped the visitors reach 207 with the dangerous Jason Whittaker (5-78) the pick of the bowlers.

Hyde’s response started well with opener Harry Dearden falling to Alex Kegg (4-59) on 99. But when he went, Hall appeared to have an outside chance with the hosts having been reduced to 136-6.

But it wasn’t to be as 33 apiece from Rob Brierley and the unbeaten Jason Whittaker nudged the hosts over the line with three wickets in hand.

In Division One, Christleton crashed to a heavy defeat at home to in-form Urmston courtesy of the Parkinson brothers.

Callum Parkinson (129) and Calum Turner (85) put on a 170-run stand for the second wicket as the visitors declared on 295-3.

Christleton openers Tom Norris (37) and Tufail Talha (29) put up a fight but once those two had been removed, the hosts collapsed to 139 all out with leg-spinner Matthew Parkinson finishing with 8-32.

Oulton Park raced to a nine-wicket win at Middlewich, who closed on 192-6 with Jamie Williams (61) and Andy Davies (51) the pick with the bat.

Oulton needed just 33 overs to complete the chase with an unbeaten 77 from Iroshan de Silva, Martyn East (53) and Danny Leech (52no) seeing them to 193-1.

Tattenhall dismissed hosts Cheadle Hulme for 176 at Grove Park thanks in large to David Brock (4-25) and Dave Shewring (4-47) but were not so impressive with the bat.

Stuart Sadler (58) and Shewring (34) gave them a chance but Iftikhar Naseer (6-53) and Rana Malook (4-63) skittled them out for 157.

Alvanley batsman Mike Rowlands hit 51 as his side pushed Warrington close in Division Two
Alvanley batsman Mike Rowlands hit 51 as his side pushed Warrington close in Division Two

Alvanley pushed Warrington close in a thrilling contest, with the Division Two leaders scraping home by one wicket with just four balls remaining.

On a good batting track, Alvanley posted 215-9 with Mike Rowlands (51) and Stephen Charles (49) the standouts and Aussie paceman Nathan Green (4-82) the biggest threat with the ball.

Excellent fielding and smart bowling from Stephen Charles (5-41) knocked off the Warrington batsmen at regular intervals but injured opener Mal Agar came in as last man and helped Nathan Green (31no) get the visitors home to close at 218-9 from 49.2 overs.

Cheshire League

Chester County Officers gave themselves a lifeline in the fight to beat the drop with a fine triumph at Bunbury in Division Two.

Winning the toss and choosing to bat, Chester overcame a difficult start to build a decent score. Contributions from Dave Downham (45), Mike Jones (20) and Chris Wright (13) were backed up with a splendid 65 from man-of-the-match Stuart Putson to post a defendable total of 179.

In response, Bunbury struggled to handle John Warrington’s accuracy (3-35) to give Chester a foothold in the match.

Alex Kerrison started a marathon 18-over stint to keep Bunbury behind the rate and the pressure became too much once Steve Johnson joined the attack as wickets began to tumble.

His six overs went for just four runs and included a wicket with Kerrison (5-73) mopping them up at the other end. A smart run-out involving Putson and Kerrison accounted for the other wicket.

Chester dismissed the hosts for 138 with five overs to spare and the maximum-points win gives them hope of being able to start climbing the table and getting out of trouble.

Cheshire Alliance

Saughall returned to winning ways in Division One with a convincing victory at The Groves.

The hosts won the toss and made a good start with the bat, reaching 48-1, but were dismissed for 97 with Mike Garvey (29) and Damian Walters (26) offering the most resistance.

Chris Andrews (5-31) was the pick of the bowlers with able support from Lawrence Gotts (3-32) and Mike Andrews (2-33).

On a good batting track, Saughall raced to 75-1 before Adam Griffiths went on to hit 33. Quick wickets made the run-chase more of a struggle than it should have been but an unbeaten 50 from Mike Andrews helped them reach their target in 23 overs to claim maximum points.

Westminster Park romped to a big win at bottom club Tranmere Victoria with Charan Kondoor (5-18) finishing with career best bowling figures as the struggling hosts were dismissed for 49.

The run-chase took just five overs with Dhanwant Singh smashing an unbeaten 43 from 21 balls, including five fours and two sixes to hand the visitors victory.

In Division Two, Frodsham slipped to a seven-wicket reverse at home to Old Parkonians. The hosts elected to bat but were bowled out for 96 with Robert Marnick (7-43) in devastating form with the ball.

Ian Smith (36) and Charles Allen (18) top scored as Old Parkonians chased down the target in 33 overs for a comfortable win.

Cheshire Women's League

A narrow defeat to Stockport Trinity in a cross-division game has ended Chester Boughton Hall's fading title hopes.

Nic Capes top scored with 26 as Chester were dismissed for 108 with the lethal Lucy Higginbotham taking 3-5 and Gummi Panesar finishing with 3-12.

Charlotte Thompson (2-12) and Amelia Jones (2-14) performed well with the ball but Stockport stumbled to 111-8 with Hannah Wicks posting 26.