APPLETON Cricket Club stuttered in Cheshire Alliance Division One as their clash with Sandbach finished in a draw on Saturday.

With the previous week's action a washout, it was up to the south Warrington side to gain maximum points to enable them to push for promotion.

Appleton won the toss and elected to bat with stalwart Ant Hurst showing his form with a solid 36.

However, Sandbach's new bowler Butt was a thorn in Appleton's side and only Rick Clarke held his patience, finishing with 67 runs to help the away side reach 172 all out.

With three bowlers absent, Appleton put in the fielding performance of the season so far.

James Darbyshire took three wickets and Pete Worrall and Ed Pugh managed to keep Sandbach's order quiet with some excellent line and length bowling.

Without their strike bowlers Appleton could only claim eight wickets with Sandbach finishing on 112.

Appleton's seconds put in another excellent performance to remain top of Division Four by beating Disley by six wickets.

Four wickets for the reliable arm of Chris Tomlinson helped Appleton restrict the visitors to only 144 off their allotted overs.

Confident batting from the up-and-coming Tom Broadbent and opener Steve Reece made the target look relatively easy and Appleton cruised to victory with 14 overs left.