The 1st XI travelled to Brooklands knowing that only a win would do. Losing the toss, we were invited to bat in difficult conditions and despite the openers battling hard, things did not look promising with the score on 16-3 in the 9th over. Connor and Dan mounted a fight back showing solid defence whilst punishing anything loose and they put on 29 for the 4th wicket before Dan was run out. Connor was adjudged LBW 3 balls later leaving us on 49-5 after 16 overs. Partnerships of 11 between Warbo & Tom and Callum & Tom took the score to 71 at which point the skipper decided it was time to get as many as he could as quickly as he could. He took 13 off 1 over and 7 off the next taking the score beyond 100 and moving on to 39 before he was last man out with the score on 103.

As reported on Friday, Brooklands had failed to make a 100 on 6 occasions in the season so all was not lost, however, at 25-0 in the 6th over we feared the worst. Enter Darren Leach! Having gone for 14 off his first 2 overs, he had Bowdon caught by Liam, Edwards bowled, AJ Hart caught by Dave Williams, Cunliffe LBW and completed his 5fer with a sharp slip catch to Connor leaving our hosts on 42-5 in the 14th over. Liam removed Chris Hart (courtesy of another excellent slip catch from Connor), Darren bowled A. Buchan and at 51-7 there appeared no way back. Some brief resistance took the final total to 87. Leachy took 6-41 whilst Liam and Dave Williams shared the other 4 wickets between them. Unfortunately, results elsewhere meant that even the 25 points were not enough to avoid relegation.

Following back to back wins that had moved the 2nds out of the relegation places, they took on Nantwich at the UCG with some optimism. As above, we lost the toss and were invited to bat and as above, found runs hard to come by. Sam Talbot battled manfully, top scoring with 22 whilst Luca, Dava and Simon McGowan all made double figures. Again, as above, we were all out for 103, however, it is testimony to the hard graft and determination that the innings lasted 45 overs. Unfortunately, that is where the similarity with the 1st XI game ended as Nantwich knocked off the runs to complete an 8 wicket victory, Keeno & Stowelly picking up the wickets. The defeat has moved us back into the bottom 2, 12 points behind Hyde (who travel to Marple on the last day) and 23 points behind Cheadle (who entertain Alderley Edge).

It was better news for the 3rd XI who got home in another thrilling encounter with Mobberley. Losing the toss and bowling, we restricted our hosts to 123 for 8 off their 45 overs, James Woods did most of the damage, picking up 4-47 whilst Ian Sharrock picked up the 2 wickets he needed to take him to 50 for the season. We didn't find batting any easier than they had with only Joe Green of the top 6 making double figures. However contributions down the order from George Williams (13), Phil McGowan (13*) and a match winning knock of 43* from the skipper saw us home for the loss of 8 wickets with just under 4 overs to spare. With Didsbury losing at Port Sunlight, the victory takes us back to the top of the table and secures promotion. We have the chance to win the league in the last game when we entertain Irby whilst 2nd placed Didsbury are at home to Oakmere.

Finally on Saturday, the 4th XI took the short trip down the M53 to take on Wirral. Ian Bruce won the toss and elected to have a bowl. 6 of the top 7 Wirral bats got into double figures but nobody could get beyond 28 and their innings closed on 140-9 off their 40 overs. Kevin Jackson & Dec Delaney both picked up 3 wickets, whilst Scraggy (1) and Phil Wood (2) shared the others. In reply, Dave Charles scored his 3rd 50 of the season whilst there were also double-figure contributions from Alex Woods (16), Faiz Ahmed (21*) & Kevin Jackson (16*), however, we closed on 126-7, 14 runs short of the target.