The Men’s 1st XI made the short trip to neighbours Winnington Park, losing the toss in wet conditions and being asked to bat. Despite losing Nick Verma early, Matt Worsdale and James Hodkinson battled hard in steady rain to make their way to 48/1 in the 21st over. With runs hard to come by and the rain intensifying, Hodkinson (16) and Worsdale (24) lost their wickets in a collapse that saw the visitors slump to 65/8 before the umpires decided that the conditions were no longer suitable for play. After a delay of more than an hour, Oakmere returned to the crease with their innings finishing on 73 all out.

In Winnington’s DLS adjusted chase of 72, Matt Holland (1/25) took a wicket in the first over to give Oakmere hope. Matt Worsdale (1/21), James Hodkinson (1/14) and Ethan Yeo (1/12) all made further inroads, but the target was never enough in improving weather conditions.

Oakmere Men’s 2nd XI (161/8) vs Chester Boughton Hall 3rd XI (83 all out) – Oakmere won by 87 runs (DLS)

It was a top of the table clash at Overdale Lane with the 2nd placed Men’s 2nd XI hosting league leaders Chester Boughton Hall. The visitors won the toss and elected to bowl and openers Dave Purcell and James Norton took advantage of a greasy ball, taking Oakmere to 31/0 after 8 overs. At this point, the rain arrived and play was delayed for more than two hours. When play resumed, Oakmere’s openers continued where they left off, taking the score past the fifty mark before Purcell became the first man to fall for 35. Norton and Harry Poole continued things, running well and taking the score to the brink of three figures when Norton was caught for 41. This set a great platform in what was now a 35 over game. As the batters took more risks, wickets fell, but there were valuable contributions from Poole (15), Lewis Newall (22 from 16 balls) and Ben Verma (12* from 7 balls) as Oakmere posted 161/8 which was DLS adjusted to a target of 171 from 35 overs.

Opening bowler Verma continued his excellent form with the ball, picking up an LBW early on in the reply to make it 7/1. Another man in great form with the ball, Ethan Mackin, made the next breakthrough, drawing a false shot with a catch well taken by Hamish Shovelton to make it 30/2. 30/2 became 30/3 courtesy of a superb low catch in the covers from James Norton off Verma’s (2/13) bowling. After a couple of chances came and went, Mackin (4/33) and Shovelton (4/30) both bowled excellent spells, exchanging wickets and helped by good catches from Paul Guilford and Ian Eaton as Chester were all out for 83. The victory for Oakmere closes the gap at the top of the table to just 2 points.

Oakmere Women’s 1st XI (144/6) vs Appleton 1st XI (142/6) – Oakmere won by 6 wickets

The Women’s 1st XI were in action at Overdale Lane on Sunday, hosting Appleton and asking their opponents to bat first after winning the toss. Kate Skelhorn (0/8 from 5 overs) and Madi Arthur kept runs at a premium early on, with pressure eventually telling as Madi (1/12 from 5 overs) made the breakthrough at 20/1. Leah Holland (1/3) and Bella Williams (1/16) followed this up to make it 25/3 before a fightback from Appleton pushed the score towards three figures. Kerry Hartnett’s introduction to the attack stopped the charge, as her 3/14 put the brakes on as Appleton posted 142/6 from their 40 overs.

An early boundary for Phoebe Cottam (8) got things going for Oakmere but she was soon to fall LBW with the score on 10. Leah Holland and Rachel Warrenger shared a solid partnership and were just looking to get going before Rachel was bowled for 12 and Leah was adjudged LBW for 15 to make it 35/3. Amy Jones (16) and Madi Arthur (18) took up the mantle, again rebuilding nicely before three wickets fell with the score on 73 to leave Oakmere in a bit of strife. Kerry Hartnett came to the crease and showed no signs of this difficult position, scoring nine boundaries on her way to an unbeaten 44 from as many deliveries with Abbi Lamidey (9*) providing great support at the other end as Oakmere chased their target with 6 overs to spare.

Runcorn 3rd XI (142 all out) vs Oakmere Men’s 3rd XI (115/8) – Runcorn won by 27 runs

The Men’s 3rd XI travelled to Runcorn yesterday, winning the toss and electing to bowl first. Tom Court (1/25) and Mathew Giles bowled excellent opening spells to reduce Runcorn to 36/4 early on. Corey Lewis took a wicket to make it 57/5 before a fightback from the Runcorn number 6. Corey worked hard and eventually put a halt to this at 87/6 before Mathew Giles returned to the attack, taking three further wickets to finish his spell with personal best bowling figures of 6/33 from 10 overs as Runcorn slumped to 102/9. The final wicket pair for the home side battled admirably, putting on 40 runs together before Corey’s return to the attack saw the last wicket fall with the score on 142 and Corey finishing with 3/19 from his 5.3 overs.

Runs were hard to come by in the reply with Jack Pickering (15) and James Lewis (18) the only batters to make it to double figures as Oakmere fell to 84/8. Brandon Jones (22*) and Mathew Giles (22* from 14 balls) provided a late counter attack but it was unfortunately too little too late, as Oakmere finished their 40 overs 27 runs shy of their target.