GRAPPENHALL fell to a crushing defeat to Cheadle in a Cheshire County League Premier Division relegation battle at Broad Lane.

The visitors won the toss and opted to field first, with Grappenhall reaching a total of 206-9.

Will Holmes and Josh Dooler were of particular torment to the Grappers batsmen, taking three wickets each in a close encounter.

Skipper Adam Roylance gave the hosts hope of securing the win with a score of 61 before being bowled out by the impressive Dooler.

Arthur Pennington posted a respectable 46 but was dismissed four runs short of his half century.

Cheadle took to the crease confident of completing the away victory, especially with an accomplished start from Greg Dixon.

Four boundaries from the opener quickly saw him reach 40 runs before falling lbw to Roylance.

Grappenhall then took Ryan O’Brien for none before Dan Brown hit back with an impressive 53. Other notable batting performances from Elliot Bullock, Dooler and Holmes eventually saw Cheadle home by six wickets.

The seconds solidified their hold on fifth spot in the 2nd XI Premier Division by defeating Macclesfield away by four wickets, taking the pressure off after a number of poor recent performances.

After winning the toss and electing to field, Grappers dismissed Macclesfield for 187, with captain Ross Arrowsmith taking five wickets and Ben Cagna adding three.

Grappers made short work of the chase, losing only six wickets and Matt Titchard and Ross Arrowsmith scoring 37 and 25 not out respectively. This was enough to see them home with 8 overs to spare.

The thirds lost heavily at home to league leaders Didsbury as they were rolled for only 80.

Didsbury managed to overcome the total in just over 23 overs, losing only three wickets – two of which were the result of remarkable catches from wicketkeeper Paul Tyerman.

Meanwhile, three wins in six days means that Appleton Tigers are back on top of the Cheshire Women’s Cricket League Division One table and are through to two cup finals.

The Tigers racked up an impressive 125-4 from their 20 overs against Chester in the Knockout Cup Semi Final.

Emma Barlow (25 retired) and Holly McCurrie (16) got them off to a rapid start, then 26 retired from Georgia Heath and 22 not out from Charlotte Cross kept them racing along.

Eloise Jackson came in for the last few overs and smashed a quickfire 27 to set the imposing total.

Olivia Horsfield took 3- 13 and Nat Long 5- 9 to bowl Chester out for just 54.

They also top the T20 West Division with a much closer win over Wistaston, with runs from Barlow (27), Heath (22) and Chris McLean (15) help them to post 101-6.

Sami Fowler and Horsfield opened the bowling tightly and beat the bat regularly, keeping Wistaston behind the rate but without sneaking any wickets.

Wistaston's middle order brought them up towards the target, but Abbey Gore held her nerve to bowl well under great pressure, keeping them five short of their target at the end of the game.

In the Division One encounter on Sunday, Chester's top order started to look settled until a catch from Jess Lewis on the boundary brought Long the first of her three wickets.

Kathryn Jackson took three wickets and Sami Fowler bowled her eight overs for as many runs and took two wickets to finish off the innings.

Chasing a target of 127, Appleton paced their innings well with Barlow (86 runs) batting through with good support from Cross (14) and Annie Rashid bringing them victory in the 32nd over.