Another win for Grappers

GRAPPENHALL cemented their position at third in the Vivio Cheshire County League ECB Premier division with a swift demolition of Oxton at Broad Lane.
Batting first on a good track, they got off to a bad start at 64-3.
But Aussie all-rounder Josh McClelland was promoted up to four and together with Mike Sambells put on 74 before Sambells went for a solid 31.
Another wicket fell to a run out and at 146-5 there was still a lot of work to do.
Wicket keeper Liam Parkinson joined McClelland and the pair took the score to 193 when the Aussie fell for an excellent 77.
Parkinson went on to make 35 and the lower order made useful contributions enabling Grappers to reach 243-8.
After tea, Oxton got off to a nightmare start at 30-5 – four of which fell to McClelland.
Later batsmen offered some resistance but the visitors were all out for 117 with McClelland finishing with 6-34 from nine hostile overs.
Grappenhall 2nd beat Middlewich by nine wickets to keep up their own title aspirations while Grappenhall 3rd defeated Urmston to stay top of their division.
Jamie Bye hit 40 and Mark Tyerman 94 as Grappers hit 218-5 at Urmston. Then the home side were bowled out for 190, Richard Wiles taking 4-38 and Stanley Pennington 3-27.
In the Cheshire League, Lymm Oughtrington Park went down by one wicket in a tense, low-scoring game against Aston at Oughtrington Lane.
Lymm batted first and were tumbled out for 81 – a total that seemed inadequate to say the least.
But the visitors struggled for runs too and with Terry Scholes taking 6-23 the possibility of an unlikely victory loomed large. In fact, Aston’s last pair were at the wicket when they scraped victory.
In the Cheshire Alliance, Appleton suffered a three wicket defeat against Haslington at Lyons Lane.
Batting first, Appleton reached 152, with Ali Sharif top scoring with 68.
Danny Oliver, 3-47 and A Aslam, 3-30, bowled well when the visitors replied but could not prevent reaching their target of 153 with seven wickets down.
Appleton 2nd also lost by three wickets at Haslington.
Again, Appleton batted first and were dismissed for 163, Mike Arnold hitting 49 and Ed Sygrove 33. Haslington replied with 166-7, Michael Ormson taking 2-43 and Sygrove 2-16.
Glazebury’s dismal luck continued as they were beaten by the narrowest of margins at Wistaston Village.
The home side batted first and were all out for 179. Sharing the bowling honours were Hakeem Dahou, 2-40, Jack Warhurst, 2-37 and Gerrard Southworth 2-15.
Glazebury made a decent fist of their reply but were all out for 179, Jack Warhurst top scoring with an unbeaten 60.
At Hurst Lane, Glazebury 2nd also went close despite being bowled out for 111 by Appleton, skipper Dave Nicholson top scoring with 22 not out.
Christopher Ayre took 5-21 as Appleton replied with 112-9.
Rylands went down by three wickets at Old Parkonians, batting first and being dismissed for 130, Joe Quin hitting 80. When the home side batted, Quin was again the star for Rylands, taking 4-16 but Parkonians reached their target for the loss of seven wickets.
Stretton went down against visiting Ellesmere Port totalling 167, A Raza 41 in reply to the visitors’ 212, J Mir 5-62.