BROOKLANDS' first XI were comfortably beaten by Premier League Bramhall in the Joseph Holt T20 competition.

Bramhall batted first and raced to 70-1 off eight overs before being restricted to 149-6 as Brooklands managed to up their fielding energy. Rob Leach deserved more than his 1-20 opening the bowling and neither AJ Hart nor Malkit Singh were hit for a boundary in the final six overs.

Chasing this looked on with Alex Edwards opening and quickly getting to 23 before chipping one to short fine leg.

Other than a fine 29 not out from Aidan Khares, the rest of the batting quickly folded and the reply ended 50 runs short with five overs to spare.

The weather played the most significant role on Saturday, with neither the second nor third teams starting their fixtures.

The first XI remain at the top of Division Two as they saw some action at Alvanley. They bowled their hosts out for 123 with wickets shared between captain Hart (3-23), Rob Leach (3-33), Caleb Jones (2-48) and Mark Law (2-17). Brooklands only managed to face three overs; 10 of the balls were to overseas player Dan Duke who hit 21 from them before being caught out.

The game of the weekend was the fourth XI's match at Ashton-on-Mersey, who batted first in a reduced-overs game.

They scored 190-4 from 38 overs, with Gary Essue scoring an unbeaten 91 in 116 balls, supported by Muhammad Farjad (33) and home captain Oliver Chow (33).

Brooklands got the required 191 with four wickets and 11 balls to spare. Richard Palmer made amends for dropping Essue when he was on four by scoring 94 in 75 balls (14 fours, two sixes) with support from Mark Bloomfield (28).

After Palmer departed with Brooklands needing 30 to win, veteran Jim Harper and stand-in captain Alex Pugh (21no) saw the Bears home.

This Saturday the first XI travel to Northwich and the second XI host Oxton (both 1pm start); the third XI host Langley (1.30pm start). The fourth XI is at home to Woodford on Sunday, 2pm start.