Back to back wins for Ashcombe as Cheadle close in on the summit

CHEADLE climbed up to third place in NSSCL Premier B with a resounding victory over bottom-of-the table Norton in Hales.

- Chris Travers

The Moorlanders, who dropped out of the top flight at the end of last season, made light work of their target to inflict a fourth defeat in five games on their rivals.

Cheadle were set 179 to win - and raced to a nine-wicket triumph in just 32 overs.

They lost Ali Khan early in their pursuit of victory, but Craig Smith and Sam Cliffe, pictured below, then compiled an unbroken second-wicket stand of 164 to steer the home side to the points.

Smith hit 15 fours in his unbeaten 80, with Cliffe’s 70 not out including 11 boundaries.

Norton in Hales had earlier stuck 178-8 on the board from their 45 overs, an innings which saw plenty of batsmen make starts but none go on to make a sizeable score.

Ronan Farnell and Jamie Evans both made 33 apiece, Jack Furnival and James Pringle each made 20, with Rameez Alam (18) and Luke Taylor (17no) also contributing.

James Sellers took the bowling plaudits for Cheadle with 3-38, while Matthew Goodwin and Craig Grimley shared four wickets.

Ben Rogerson and Andrew Calvert both hit centuries as Eccleshall were ahead of the game to beat Elworth in a rain-affected encounter.

Eccleshall piled up 289-4 from their allocation, with Rogerson and Calvert stealing the show.

They put on 177 for the second wicket to provide excellent foundations with Rogerson top-scoring with 105.

His knock featured eight fours and five sixes, but Calvert wasn’t too far behind, his 102 including nine boundaries and half-a-dozen maximums.

Greg Clark (44) was also in fine fettle as Elworth’s attack was put to the sword.