STRETFORD CC's league tie with Woodbank was a game of two halves and it ended in a 63-run defeat.

The first half saw an excellent bowling and fielding display and the second part was a very poor batting display.

Stretford welcomed back mercurial 14-year-old left arm spinner Ahmad Muhammad.

Woodbank after a good start putting on 53 for the first wicket, once Muhammad was introduced the innings went down hill finishing on 134.

Ahmad finished with 7-42 showing how much the team had missed him.

It was never going to be an easy target but it needed a determined batting display.

It didn't happen as Stretford fell to 12-3 with Danie Van Schoor, Stephen Green and Ibrar Latif going for ducks.

An exciting innings of 44 by Munir Khan gave brief respite but the rest of the Stretford batting fell away as they were bowled out for 71.

Elsewhere, the second team managed to grab a point from a losing draw.

Chasing 209 the Stretford side were never up with the rate, but batted much better than recent weeks. Stretford finished on 172-8 and it was a creditable effort.

Meanwhile, Trafford MV 1st XI were looking to pick points up in this fixture against fellow mid-table opponents Stalybridge St Pauls CC but came up short losing by two wickets.

Metrovicks took on mid-table Stalybridge, looking to put the bad results from the previous weekend behind them.

MV lost their two openers, Andy Greenwood and Yogesh Ingale cheaply, both falling to good catches and although Tom Armstrong looked in good form for his 23, MV never recovered.

Andy Harrison made a quick 18 before being run out by a direct hit but MV were bowled out for a paltry 83.

Despite having so few runs on the board, MV almost came away with an unlikely victory, taking eight wickets before Stalybridge crawled over the line.

This was largely due to a fine spell of bowling from veteran Steve Haughton, taking 4-18.

Another disappointing day for MV who are having difficulty putting a score on the board at present.

A trip to bottom of the league The Groves on Saturday is a must-win game for MV who are struggling to get wins.

On the other hand they are losing by close margins – that little bit extra of good play and good luck will make all the difference.