Winsford 217-3

Christleton 157-6

Meller Braggins League

PAUL Yearsley notched up his third unbeaten century of the season as Winsford reached 200-plus for the second consecutive away game.

After being asked to bat, Winsford got off to a terrible start with Crellin going second ball.

But what came next was Winsford's partnership of the season, with the ever-reliable Yearsley and skipper Andy Johnson taking the score to 173 with a classy array of shots which both sides appreciated.

Their 33-over partnership ended when Johnson was dismissed for 89 but Yearsley again carried his bat and finished on 100, ably assisted by Chris Barraclough (22 not out).

After losing a couple of early wickets, Christleton lost any interest in chasing Winsford's total and the game lost its sparkle.

Andy Beswick took four wickets as Winsford earned a winning draw and 13 points.

Christleton 2nds 164-5

Winsford 2nds 100

AFTER three consecutive wins, Winsford were expecting another good performance against Christleton on Saturday - but it failed to materialise.

Winsford were boosted by a number of players returning from holiday or unavailability.

Christleton began nervously, edging the ball through the slips on numerous occasions, and Dave Johnson found the breakthrough in the third over with the score on six.

Johnson also claimed the wicket of D Reeves (14) who never looked convincing.

However, this brought D Evans to the crease. From his very first ball he looked to attack and with support from the patient M Stakes (51) and S Holland (20), the run rate rapidly increased.

Paul Atherton and Mark Skellon were both unlucky not to have taken a wicket, as skied balls dropped into empty spaces and difficult catch opportunities were not taken.

Jeff Crofts bowled an exceptional spell of line and length bowling with figures of 3-27, while Johnson finished with 2-31.

Christleton's innings closed on 164-5 with D Evans finishing on an unbeaten 70.

In reply to the Christleton total, Winsford began confidently with skipper John Millington Snr and Mark Skellon working in tandem to take the score along to 53-0 off 18 overs.

What followed this was somewhat similar to an England collapse.

Millington (26), was first to fall, shortly followed by Skellon (30). Numerous other batsmen came and went quickly, leaving the score on 73-5.

R Dandy did the most damage, taking 4-15 from nine overs.

John Morgan supplied Winsford's only middle order resistance, scoring 24, as W Lamb dismissed the tail without difficulty, taking 4-5 from 4.3 overs.

Winsford ended on 100 all out, with 10 wickets falling for 47 runs in 23 overs.

Winsford must now beat high-fliers Bredbury next week if they are to resurrect their title hopes.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.