GRAPPENHALL travelled to the Wirral to take on newly-promoted Maritime in the Cheshire County League division one – but found the home side’s batsmen in commanding form.
Winning the toss, Maritime posted a daunting 330-9 in 50 overs.
It was a good day for Grappers’ Arran McCabe, however, who took 6-53 in a nine over spell.
Grappenhall fought hard in reply and a number of batsmen got settled, only to fall before reaching the sort of big score that was needed if the match was to be saved.
Zack Tully h it 34 and Arthur Pennington 32 and the side managed to get within three overs of forcing a draw.
But in the end they were all out for 206 – still looking for their first win of the season.
In division three, Warrington went down disappointingly at Runcorn after putting the home side in.
Runcorn were all out for 260 with Brad Roden-Lui the pick of the Warrington bowlers with 5-59.
Opener Aamir Ali top scored with 63 when Warrington replied and there were useful knocks from James Lewis, 33 and Eswar Peddi, 31. But although a number of others contributed, Warrington fell short by 20 runs.
As a result, Warrington, who were the early front-runners, dropped to fourth in the table.
In the Cheshire League division one, Lymm Oughtrington Park went down by seven wickets at Westminster Park.
Batting first, they were held to 141-8, with R Roberts, 43, the top scorer.
Lymm’s bowlers were unable to make much headway when the home side batted and they coasted to 142-3.
Appleton went down by six wickets at Prestbury.
Electing to bat first, they posted 186-9, Amir Aslam top-scoring with 68 and Josh Hill hitting 53.
Ther home side had 85 on the board before they lost a wicket and although Mansoor Safi took 3-53 for Appleton, the home side claimed victory with 188-4.
Glazebury lost by 100 runs at Knutsford.
Winning the toss, the home side chose to bat first and were all out for 205. Kyle Keeble took 3-52 and Sean Caine, Dave Nicholson and Hari Puthanvitle picked up two wickets each.
Wayne Hargreaves hit a solid 36 when Glazebury batted, but they were all out for 105.
Other matches:
Grappenhall 2nd 129 lost to Marple 132-3
Warrington 2nd 136 lost to Upton 138-7
Lymm Oughtrington Park 2nd 160-9 lost to Westminster Park 164-4
Lymm Oughtrington Park 3rd 184-8 beat Maritime 61
Appleton 2nd 182-7 lost to Knutsford 185-7
Appleton 3rd 143-5 beat North East Cheshire 139
Glazebury 2nd 113 lost to Cheadle Hulme Ladybridge 114-5
