Grappers blast their way to remarkable victory

GRAPPENHALL won a remarkable, high-scoring game against Cheadle at Broad Lane to give their Vivio Cheshire League premier division survival hopes a shot in the arm.
The visitors batted first and at first struggled to score thanks to tight bowling from pacemen Gaz Buirns and Sam Guest.
But after six overs, Guest had to leave the field after suffering an injury which could force him to miss a number of matches and this put extra pressure on the attack.
Wickets fell regularly, but the Cheadle batsmen upped the in the closing stages to post a formidable 296-8 from 55 overs.
Josh Hayes took 2-67, Adam Roylance 2-50 and Aussie Owen Lynch 2-81.
Grappers made a strong start to their reply, with Roylance and Arthur Pennington scoring 28 and 32 respectively. When they both fell in quick succession, Pete Barnes, 34, played a patient innings to keep the board ticking over while Luke McCoy pushed ahead with a fine 65.
Although still a long shot there was a buzz about the ground as confidence increased that Grappers could chase down the mammoth target.
Lynch, with his family over here to watch, took the game by the scruff of the neck and showed what a class act he is as he dominated the Cheadle bowling.
Well supported by Burns – 34 off 22 balls, Lynch played a quite superb innings, smashing 72 not out from only 45 balls to get Grappers to within a whisker of victory.
A couple more wickets fell but it was fitting it was Lynch to score the winning runs with five balls of the game remaining.
The result left Grappers still in the relegation zone but now only by a point and it is hoped the team can now drag themselves to safety when they travel to Toft next Saturday.
Grappenhall 2nd won a more straight forward match by 80 runs at Cheadle. They posted a solid 179 in their innings, with everyone chipping in. In response Cheadle looked in a good position at 80-1 but Matt Titchard turned the game Grappers’ way as he picked up six wickets as Cheadle collapsed dramatically to 99 all out.
Grappenhall 3rd won another thriller at home when they beat Marple by six wickets.
Marple were bowled out for 139, with “spin twins” Ben Bravington and Neil Titchard taking four and three wickets respectively.
Grappers look in deep trouble at 44-5 but skipper David Seed crafted his second 50 in two weeks to see his side home with four overs to spare, helped by Will Metcalfe who smashed 38 not out.
In a bottom of the table clash with fellow strugglers Sale, Warrington invited the visitors to bat at Walton Lea.
Johan Els took 3-43, James Rudd 2-33 and Brad McIntosh 1-59 but Sale closed their innings on a defendable total of 219-6.
The Sale attack wreaked havoc with the Warrington top order and the home side were on the ropes at 35-7 until Mike Rudd, 38, and skipper Richard Heaney, 31, restored some respectability to the score. Then James Rudd , 17 and the last pair batted out time earning Warrington an unlikely draw.
Warrington 2nd won by four wickets at Stockport where the home side were held to 160-7.
Warrington started well with their opening attack making early inroads with Isaac Webster 3-16 and Ryan Swart 1-25. The home side staged a recovery but Chai Gadepalli, 2-50 and Rishav Manta, 1-15 claimed the other wickets as Stockport closed their innings on 160-7.
Skipper Simon Swain, 53, and Mark Ewing, 43, built a platform for victory with a good second wicket stand. Warrington had a wobble losing three quick wickets but crossed the line with overs to spare.
Warrington 3rd invited Stretton 2nd to bat first and bowled them out for 120, Dave Lee 4-31, Bill Gilbert 3-21 and Harry Charvill 3-35.
But despite the modest target, Warrington were soon in trouble and had to hang on for a draw with nine wickets down. Harry Kellett top scored with 34.
Warrington 4th’s game at Trafford Metrovics ended in a draw after rain stopped play.
Trafford declared on 225-6 and Warrington were 126-6 when the rain came. Paul Dempster top scored with 39.
In the Cheshire League, Lymm Oughtrington Park bowled out Irby for 144 at Oughtrington Lane, Syed Khan taking 4-43, skipper Travis Scholes 3-44 and Jonathan Fletcher 3-14.
Lymm replied with 147-8, opener Mathew Carr hitting a fine 79 and Nafees Din 23.
Travelling to Irby, hammered 251-4 but were held to a draw with the home side hanging on at 145-9.
Stretton bowled out Over Peover for 79 after batting first and hitting 197-9.
Match winner was Ali Zubain who hit 70 and followed it up with 6-7.
Appleton fought out a closely contested draw at Wirral after the home side had batted first and hit 137, Amir Aslam taking 4-37.
Sam Cooper hit 30 and Lee Stoll 21 as Appleton finished on 134-9.
Appleton 2nd also had to be satisfied with a draw after hitting 230-6 but being denied victory by Oxton who held out on 120-8.
But Appleton 4th raced to victory after hitting 130-6 and then demolishing Ashley for 39.
John Porter hit 28, Dave Darbyshire 27 not out and Mike Wharton 29 while the bowlers doing the damage were Peter McShane, 4-8, Michael Ormson 3-11 and Terry Major 2-6.
Glazebury won a low-scoring game at Pott Shrigley after bowling out the home side for 63. Chris Ayre took 4-17 and Sam Stanier 5-21.
The visitors also struggled for runs but Tony Bennett, 15 and Paul Warhurst 13 did enough for them to reach their lowly target.
Glazebury 2nd hit a solid 190 when they took on the Pott Shrigley second string at Hurst Lane. Troi Sequeira hit 61, Andrew Wood 31 and skipper Wayne Hargreaves 26.
The visitors were bowled out for 177, Jack Whitehead taking 4-12 and Sean Caine 2-46.