CHESTER County Officers' miserable run continued at Sandbach with their third successive defeat. The home side were invited to bat on a muddy-looking strip and made solid progress at first with the giant Andy Williams (29) launching big drives.
When he got too adventurous, he was snapped up in the gully. But this brought the flamboyant da Silva (47) to the wicket and he continued his recent good form, twice hitting the ball out of the ground.
Opener Tomlinson (57) kept the innings ticking over as Steve Johnson, bowling unchanged, picked off the wickets and took the first seven before John Coppock notched one in a tidy spell. The final score was 180-8 as Johnson returned 7-77 in 24 overs.
Chester's reply started steadily and continued that way as Mark Shallcross tied up one end with his nagging seamers. Tony Hattersley (44) was in good nick, but when he was fourth out with the score on 66, the task of scoring a further 115 in 16 overs looked well out of reach.
Shallcross completed five wickets for 37 in 19 overs, but the trump card was left-arm paceman Andy who came on to take 5-8 in five overs to polish off the Officers with an over to spare.
Alan Smith hit a spirited 17 and Johnson nearly secured the draw, but the Chester slump continued.
The seconds put up a good show with the bat as skipper Alan Roberts notched another half century with a hard-hitting 84 against Sandbach.
Steve Holland added 50 and his side looked well placed at teatime, but the team was short of its regular pace bowlers and lacked penetration. Sandbach eased to victory, losing only three wickets, although if catches had been held it might have been a different story.
Another solid performance from Kingsley saw them climb to a season's best fifth place in the first division. They won the toss and began the good-natured encounter at Langley by batting first.
Thanks to entertaining half-centuries from Kieron Ollier and Mark Butcher, and a typically flashy 37 from Neil Rowlands, Kingsley amassed 194-6 on a pitch with a sodden outfield and postage stamp-sized boundaries.
Following the best tea in the league, Andy Storey, with three wickets, continued where he left off last week by dismissing Langley's dangermen, and effectively ending their chances of victory.
Matty Ollier, who also took three wickets, continued his good run of form with the ball to remove the middle order, but Langley's tailenders were able to hang on for the draw.
Mike Andrews claimed a sensational eight-wickets haul as a much-changed Saughall team were beaten by table-topping Eastham.
With a small army of regular players unavailable for selection, Saughall turned to the kids, who played their part in a terrific team effort as Eastham were bowled all out for 135.
Andrews was the spearhead, bowling a tireless 21-over spell and taking career-best figures of 8-75 by bowling straight with a touch of lateral movement.
Fellow new-ball bowler James Huxley produced two inswinging yorkers to claim two important wickets in a 15-over spell, as the visitors kept a stranglehold on Eastham's batsmen throughout.
The bowlers were backed up impressively by the fielders with young debutant Liam Beamish taking a terrific running catch at backward square leg while Mark Elliott, with one previous appearance under his belt, took an equally well-judged catch at long-off.
Youngsters Scott Moran, Graham Johnson and Lewis Nicholls also performed with great enthusiasm and made some fine stops as Saughall managed to restrict a confident Eastham team to 135ao.
The second half of the match was always likely to be more problematic for Saughall whose batting order had an inexperienced, fragile look to it.
To successfully chase the relatively modest target, the visitors needed a solid start, but four wickets tumbled early on as Eastham's bowlers extracted extra bounce from the wicket and plenty of seam movement.
Brian Huxley (1) edged behind, Andy Thomas (9) and Mike Andrews (4) were bowled by balls which seamed sharply, while Liam Beamish (0) was also bowled with the score on 29.
James Huxley (26) provided resistance before he was caught on the deep cover boundary and when Mark Elliott was dismissed for an eye-catching 12, Saughall's chances of pulling off an unlikely victory were diminishing.
Ian Jenkins (15) and Bryan Rowland (6no) set about steadying the ship, but when Jenkins was bowled out by a shooter with only seven overs to go, Saughall were dismissed for 87.
Skipper Huxley was delighted with the efforts of his team: 'The team we put out today was unrecognisable from the one which helped us climb up to third in the table six weeks ago.
'However, the youngsters who came in did exceptionally well, took some great catches and played their part in a really good team effort. Mike Andrews bowled fantastically well and thoroughly deserved his eight-wicket haul, which will do wonders for his confidence.'
Bunbury beat Audlem at home by seven wickets, Oakden taking 5-43 and Cooke hitting 61, while Frodsham went down by 18 runs at Kerridge.
