A defeat for Davenham that will hurt

Barrow may be the Cheshire County League’s Division One back-markers, but they are getting better.

A victory against Davenham is their second in the past three matches – they drew the other – and has raised hopes they can survive despite losing nine of their first 11 fixtures.

The men from Butcher’s Stile fell agonisingly short, by a single run, in a chase to register a victory on Saturday.

Ironically, they climbed above Sale in the standings even though a gap to the relegation zone was halved after second-bottom Stockport beat Urmston.

Promotion-chasing Upton are up next.

A helping hand for Weaverham

The Russets lost at Hale Barns but a draw between Mobberley and Tattenhall – both of them direct rivals in a battle to beat the drop – will have softened the blow.

A total of seven points separates the three teams in the Cheshire County League Division Two table with third of the campaign to go.

Weaverham are best-placed, for now, and can take heart from their performances over the past fortnight.

Captain Ian Eaton remains an important figure, and scored his fourth half-century of the 2018 campaign on Saturday.

A knock of 65 takes him beyond 400 runs for the season.

Northwich’s improvement to be tested

A comfortable five-wicket win over Warrington means James Plant’s men have lost only one of their past seven league matches.

And that progress is sure to be examined by table-topping Brooklands, their opponents next weekend.

The promotion-hopefuls were convincing victors, by 84 runs, when they visited Moss Farm and replaced Lindow in first place after crushing Christleton last time out.

They will host a side buoyed by bowling out their opponents on each of the past two Saturdays, and with spin duo Tharusha Fernando and Andrew Dufty in fine form.

Barnton breathe sigh of relief

Simon Hancock’s side brought to an end a six-match sequence without a victory when they beat Bredbury St Mark’s at Broomsedge.

While they still have work to do if they are to continue playing in the Cheshire League’s first division next season, their position is less precarious than it was.

A boost in confidence is timely too with a head-to-head against champions-elect Stockport Georgians to come next weekend.

Aussie Sam Connop’s fourth half-century of the summer reinforces how important his runs – which now number more than 500 in league games – are to their survival hopes.

Kingsley keep on keeping on

Toby Mullins’ men demolished Disley, an opponent that inflicted only a second defeat of 2018 on Stockport Georgians a few weeks earlier, to extend a winning run to five matches.

The visitors to the Croft folded for 36, with Travis Martin (6-21) and Ben Stoddart (4-14) sharing the wickets to fall.

Kingsley needed less than seven overs to reach that target, and closed to within six points of their vanquished foes as a reward.

There is a distance to go before matching a 12-match winning run last summer that clinched for them promotion, but confidence has probably never been higher.

Middlewich dig in – and will need to again

After five successive defeats, a rain-interrupted draw with Stretton feels significant.

Phil Parry’s men remain perilously close to the Cheshire League Division Two trapdoor – and with it a fourth successive relegation – but their fighting spirit remains intact.

A trip to Poynton, currently third-bottom and only three points adrift of the side from Haddon Field, on Saturday is their biggest game of the season so far.

Middlewich can be optimistic too after winning the return by three wickets back in May.