The Men’s 1st XI made the short trip to Winnington Park this past Saturday and despite Craig Phelan being unavailable for the game, stand in skipper Matt Holland continued the streak, making it 6 tosses won out of 6 so far this season. After electing to bowl first, Winnington Park got off to a quick start but the early introduction of Benedict Verma (1/24) into the attack brought the first wicket with the score on 40. Runs began to slow and it was Tom Court who took the second wicket as the first 10 overs finished with the score on 59/2. Regular wickets then began to fall which kept the run rate down with Ethan Mackin (2/37) and Matt Worsdale (1/18) maintaining the pressure as Winnington Park reached the half way point at 100/5. In partnership with Mackin, Josh Westwood helped keep scoring low but a partnership slowly began to grow with Winnington putting on 51 for the 6th wicket which fell to a superb caught and bowled by the returning Court (2/43) to make it 151/6 with five overs remaining. Holland (2/19) also returned to take two more wickets and stem the runs, keeping the final total to 184/8 off the 50 overs.

Looking for a second consecutive successful chase, the innings got off to a steady start. The first ten overs were seen out without the loss of a wicket as Nick Verma and Matt Worsdale put on a 56 run opening partnership in the first 15 overs before the unfortunate run out of Verma (14). With the next wicket falling at 68/2 in the 19th over, Zach Howdle came to the crease. Worsdale reached a half century in the 20th over before Howdle quickly got into his work , hitting his first 28 runs with 7 boundaries. The score pushed on as the pair reached a 50 run partnership in the 29th over. Howdle brought up his own half century with a maximum in the 33rd over as the score moved on further, reaching 146/2 off 33 overs. In the next over Worsdale was dismissed for 73, ending the 86 run partnership for the third wicket. Harry Poole (15*) joined Howdle and the pair saw Oakmere home, scoring the remaining 31 required runs in six overs to give the visitors a victory with ten overs to spare. With a final group t20 against Oulton Park on Thursday and a home game against Middlewich on Saturday, the Men’s 1st XI will look to continue their recent run of good form.

Oakmere Men’s 2nd XI (136 all out) vs Port Sunlight 2nd XI (172 all out) – Port Sunlight won by 36 runs

The Men’s 2nd XI hosted top of the table Port Sunlight on Saturday, winning the toss and inserting their visitors. Mathew Giles and Matt Howard got things off to an excellent start for the hosts, building pressure early on with Howard in particular bowling an excellent opening spell of 3/10 from 9 overs as Port Sunlight were reduced to 31/3. Aaron Court (2/28) took the next two wickets to fall before the returning Giles (1/42) picked up a deserved wicket as the visitors were in trouble at 95/6. A seventh wicket partnership worth 55 swung momentum in Port Sunlight’s favour before Sean McDonnell (1/16) made the breakthrough. Brandon Jones (2/10 from 9 overs) returned to pick up two hard earned wickets before Howard (4/31) finished things off with the score on 172.

Jack Mackin and Aaron Court started things off patiently for the hosts, navigating the first 9 overs before both were dismissed to consecutive balls with the score on 27. Mathew Giles and Paul Guilford then put together a solid partnership worth 49 runs to put Oakmere in the driving seat. Giles was then caught and bowled for 33, sparking a middle order collapse that saw Oakmere fall from 76/2 to 100/8 with Guilford being the eighth wicket to fall for 25. Matt Howard (16*) and Mike Dodd offered some hope, but when Dodd (18) fell to a ball that reared up and flicked behind off the gloves, the resistance was ended. The last wicket fell with the score on 136 to give Port Sunlight he victory by 36 runs.

Toft 3rd XI (62/3) vs Oakmere Men’s 3rd XI (60 all out) – Toft won by 7 wickets

The Men’s 3rd XI travelled to Alderley Park to take on Toft 3rd XI and won the toss, electing to bat first. On what proved to be a difficult day with the bat, Oakmere were bowled out for 60 with only Emily Faulkner (12), Pete Giles (12) and Roger Pickering (10*) reaching double figures.

Toft comfortably reached their target after 14.5 overs with 7 wickets in hand. There were, however, excellent maiden short spells in men’s senior cricket for John Edwards (0/6 off 2 overs), Maddi Lawson (0/4 off 2 overs) and Alistair Gilbert (0/6 off 2 overs). Emily Faulkner (1/8 off 3 overs) and Cameron Giles (2/10 off 2 overs) also provided excellent resistance.

Oakmere Women’s 1st XI (133/9) vs Chester Boughton Hall 1st XI (111/6) – Chester Boughton Hall won by 4 wickets (DLS)

The Women’s 1st XI took on Chester for the third time already this season but the first time at Overdale Lane. The visitors won the toss and asked Oakmere to bat first on this occasion. Oakmere made their way to 133/9 off the 40 overs with a hard earned 37 from Rachel Warrenger backed up by Thisumi Jayawarna (29) and Sarah Worsdale (11).

In a rain affected second innings, Sarah Worsdale starred with the ball (3/12 from 8 overs with 4 maidens) with Emily Faulkner (1/20), Layla Dwyer (1/21) and Thisumi (1/26) all grabbing a wicket apiece. Maddi Lawson took 2 catches behind the stumps, but Chester reached their reduced target with 4 wickets in hand.