Tom Marsland's 1st XI travelled to bottom placed Sale hopeful of picking up their first win of the season. Tom won the toss and elected to bat, opening up with Matt Owen & Andy Roberts. Despite losing Robbo in the 2nd over, Upton progressed steadily with Connor Smith to the fore. Matt fell in the 15th over with the score on 41 and younger brother Dan followed in the 21st over with the score now 52-3. Having worked incredibly hard to lay a foundation, Ross & Connor set about trying to push the score along. The pair took the score to 83 before Connor located deep mid wicket for a fine 46 and when Ross fell shortly after for 16 with the score on 90-5 in the 30th over, a big finish was required. Unfortunately this was not to be despite another battling innings of 24 not out from Darren Leach well supported by number 11 Liam Sundve who scored 11, the pair putting on 34 for the last wicket.

139 all out in 47.5 overs never looked enough and so it proved. Liam Sundve made an early breakthrough leaving Sale 9-1 in the 5th and a caught and bowled for Ross gave a glimour of hope with Sale on 45-2. However, undefeated innings of 70 & 51 from Lawrence & Newton respectively saw Sale reach their target in 32-5 overs. We go again next week in another bottom of the table clash when we entertain Romiley.

It was better news for Tommy Maguires 2nd XI when they welcomed Grappenhall to the UCG looking to build on last week's victory. The visitors won the toss and invited Upton to bat, a task that Sam Talbot set about with relish, stroking the first ball through mid wicket for 4. Unfortunately this was his only scoring shot and with both openers back in the shed with only 5 on the board, a long day ahead promised. Darren Warburton & David Stewart set about rebuilding, putting on 58 for the 3rd wicket before Warbo fell for 32 off 53 balls. Dava fell soon after for 30 off 56 balls and 2 further wickets left the innings in the balance at 104-6. Callum McCormick joined Tom Woods in the middle and they carefully progressed the total to 150 before Callum fell for 27 looking for quick runs. Batts and Tom both perished trying to add to the total in the last few overs, Tom finishing on 43. This left the skipper (17*) and Keeno to add an unbroken partnership of 20 for the last wicket, the innings closing on 172-9 off 50 0vers.

The Grappenhall openers set about their task with relish, hitting 3 fours in the first 3 overs before Rich Battersby removed Dickson for 9 with the score on 13. Batts picked up his 2nd clean bowled to remove Rooney for 26 from only 31 balls in the 9th over, however, Grappenhall were scoring more freely than their Upton counterparts and there was still plenty to be done. 3 successful LBW appeals (2 for the skipper and a third wicket for Batts) kept Upton in the hunt and at 78-5 after 20 overs, the game was finely balanced. The situation would have favoured Upton had any of the many chances that flew through the slips been taken. The fact that they were creating chances, encouraged Tommy to bowl himself and Batts through their full 15 over allocation and after 30 overs Grappenhall were on 111-6 (Batts having picked up another wicket to finish on 4-49). Grappenhall needed 63 to win off 20 overs with 4 wickets in hand, including number 3 bat, Sykes. Callum McCormick & Graeme Keenan both started with maidens, however, when Callum's 2nd over went for 8 (including another 4 edged through the slips) the Upton faithful were starting to get nervous. They need not have worried. A Keenan maiden followed by 3 consecutive wicket maidens reduced Grappenhall to 124-9 leaving 13 overs to remove the final pair. Another Keenan maiden and then a 3rd clean bowled for Callum meant Grappenhall were all out for 126 off 38.1 overs. The win lifts Upton to 8th in the league but they'll face a tough test next week when they travel to 2nd placed Chester Boughton Hall.

Ian Sharrock took his 3rd XI and their 100% record to Runcorn where they lost the toss and were asked to bowl. Vijay made an early breakthrough, bowling Bowen with Runcorn on 11-1 in the 4th over and took an excellent caught and bowled to remove Watt with the score on 31-2 in the 14th. Gary Docherty bowled McCaffrey (54-3 off 21) and James Woods cleaned bowled Tom Drury with the hosts on 69-4 in the 27th over. It then became the Ian Sharrock show: he had opener Stuart Drury caught by AJ for a fine 45; he took a catch to give Gary his second wicket; a cleaned bowled; and then an LBW and a bowled in the same over to give Sawda his 2nd consecutive 5fer. The Runcorn innings closed on 127 all out in 42.2 overs.

Graeme McGowan's poor run continued when he was out with the score on 12, however, this brought Ian Potter to the wicket for his first innings of the season. Accompanied by Dave Charles, Pottsy set about the Runcorn attack and they added an unbroken partnership of 117 to reach the target in 18 overs. Dave finished on 30 not out to leave him as the Club's leading run scorer this season, however, the plaudits will surely go to Potts. He brought up the 100 with a 6 in the 15th over and finished the game with a 6 to finish on 87 not out. The win sees Upton lie 3rd in the table, 5 pints off top spot.

Sadly there was no game for the 4ths this weekend due to the opposition withdrawing from the league. Similarly, the Ladies fixture on Sunday was conceded by Appleton who couldn't raise a team. News of the Sunday 1st XI will be reported separately.