A MUCH needed victory for Winnington Park against title chasers Stockport Georgians has lifted them five places up the Second Division table.

Park's two-wicket win came after some hard work in the field against Stockport's experienced batting order.

On an excellent batting track and with a fast outfield, runs were never going to be a problem for either side as both rattled up scores over the 200 mark.

Stockport, batting first, made 232-4 before declaring, but were prevented from making more due to tight bowling and good fielding by Park.

Australian big hitter Peter Procopis laid the foundations for their win with an unbeaten innings of 89.

Park's batsmen provided support with 20s and 30s to take them to 233-8 and a well deserved 20 points.

The absence of Oulton Park's leading batsmen meant they couldn't take advantage of a good batting wicket at Little Budworth against Marple.

Regular run scorers Steve Yates and John Davies were noticeably missing from the Division One side's batting order as they struggled against Marple's attack.

Oulton looked comfortable at first as Grant Long (37) and Mark Fitzgerald (28) put on an opening stand of 61.

Marple's Matt Skelton then claimed the first of his eight wickets as Long was dismissed with a fluke catch on the boundary.

Skelton went on to take 8-35 as Oulton limped to 162-9, with only Roger Whitehouse getting in the runs with 33.

Marple then took advantage of a superb track to comfortably reach the target with the loss of only one wicket.

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