GRAPPENHALL defied the rain to enjoy a fine weekend, extending their good start in the league as well as advancing in the Cheshire Cup.

They welcomed Tattenhall to Broad Lane on Saturday and invited the visitors to bat after winning the toss for a match reduced to 38 overs per side.

The visitors started well, blazing away to 55-0 from just ten overs before the bowlers took over to restrict Tattenhall’s scoring.

Visiting captain and opening batsman Henry Dobson top scored with 61 as his side reached 146-6 from their allotted overs, with Alex Matthews leading the way for Grappers with 3-31.

The hosts made good progress at the start of their innings until skipper Adam Roylance was stumped for 21 with the team’s score on 64.

James McCoy and Jamie Bye steadied the ship before the latter was dismissed for an excellent 70, which prompted a flurry of wickets before Gaz Burns and Dan Osborne saw them to a three-wicket win.

They were back in action the next day as Cheadle were the visitors in the Cheshire Cup, and rain took over again to cut the action to 25 overs each.

Roylance got Grappers off to an excellent start batting first, hitting a quick-fire 35 as they raced to 60-1 from just eight overs but the Cheadle slow bowlers halted their progress, restricting them to a total of 143-7.

Nick Fletcher hit 59 for the visitors as they came agonisingly close to victory, but a tight final over from Sam Guest secured a four-run win for Grappers, who travel to Bollington in the next round.

The club’s seconds came away with a winning draw after rain intervened in their game at Bramhall, with Iain Wright’s unbeaten 100 helping them to 185-3 declared from 27 overs.

They reduced the hosts to 92-8 before the rain came to end hopes of victory.

WARRINGTON’S game at Marple on Saturday was washed out, but they did manage to complete a two-wicket win over Upton in the Cheshire Cup on Sunday.

After restricting their hosts to 170-9, Warrington stumbled in their reply but secured victory to secure a tie with Alderley Edge in the next round.

The club’s fourths also completed their game as they drew at Neston.

Having been invited to bat first, the hosts were restricted by a disciplined effort from the Warrington bowling unit but late hitting from the lower order got them to a respectable 170-8.

Clean hitting from Alex Green, who scored 39, in Warrington’s reply, but they started to fall behind the rate and settled for a draw.