CHESTER County Officers’ long unbeaten run came to end on Saturday as they lost their Meller Braggins League Division Two top-of-the-table clash at home to Kingsley.
The leaders won the toss and, with one eye on the weather, decided to bat.
CCO needed to build an innings but wickets fell at regular intervals with Chris Wright (23), Stuart Putson (20) and Jehangir Afridi (18) succumbing to the accurate pace bowling of Travis Martin (7-53) and the off breaks of Ben Pearce (3-28).
The hosts collapsed from 85-4 at drinks to 90-9 and only a defiant 29no by Graham Dodd ensured they were able to put 125 on the board.
After tea CCO missed a couple of sharp chances, allowing all-rounder Pearce (43) to lead second-placed Kingsley toward victory.
Constant drizzle made the attack’s task all the more difficult and despite a Trojan effort by Steve Johnson (3-38) and two late wickets for Dodd (2-19), the in-form visitors made it to 126-6 with 10 overs to spare.
Cholmondeley’s winning sequence was curtailed by lowly Winsford, who flayed 172-8 in reply to the home side’s 169-8dec, while Bunbury were beaten by four wickets at Lymm Oughtrington Park, who successfully chased down 135-9dec when reaching 139-6.
