TIMPERLEY Cricket Club's first and second XIs continued their strong starts to the season with good wins at Bramhall and Macclesfield respectively.

At Bramhall, Timperley captain Craig Grindley won the toss and elected to field and it paid off when the hosts were reduced to 39-4 with Jack White bagging all four in an excellent opening spell.

The Bramhall middle and lower orders fought back to eventually post 180 all out in 52.4 overs, Higginbottom top scoring with 39, with the remaining wickets shared by Brown, Brenner, Lawrence and Ashling.

In response, Timperley opened well with Cooper and debutant Kulkarni playing well for a 71-run opening partnership. Bramhall fought back well to reduce Timperley to 89-4 and this brought Grindley to the crease.

After a slow start he saw the team home to victory in 54.4 overs with a patient 88-ball 38 not out.

He was well supported by Brenner (19) and Brown (22no) with the pick of the Bramhall bowlers Littlewood with 3-23.

Meanwhile at Macclesfield, Timperley captain Andy Horsfield also called correctly to invite Macclesfield to bat and aside from Longshaw at number four who batted well for 77no, all the batsmen struggled against Timperley's accurate attack. Wickets were shared between five bowlers with the best return being from veteran Jim McCall with 3-31 as Macclesfield were all out for 137 in 45.2 overs.

In reply, Timperley reached their target in only 29.4 overs, mainly in part through the efforts of Rob Matthews at number five who smashed a rapid fire 58 off only 33 balls, including nine fours and three sixes.

The other main contributor to the innings was captain Horsfield with 31.

At Poynton, the third XI were invited to bat and reached 143 all out off 44 overs.

Martin Porthouse led from the front with a superb 69 off 66 balls, including 10 fours and two sixes.

However he received little support with only opener Jason Coad (21) also reaching double figures.

In reply, Poynton were in trouble early on at 20-2. However, Haresnape and Scragg recovered the innings, laying the foundation of a two-wicket victory. Patel bowled well to take 4-38 from 11.2 overs.

At Appleton, the fourth XI struggled against an accurate Appleton attack to score 129 all out in 36.3 overs.

Pick of the Timperley batting was from Padidela who, for the second week running, looked particularly fluent, punishing any bad ball offered to reach 37. Cumberland bowled well, taking 4-13.

With 53 overs available to them the smart money was on Appleton to win.

However, the Timperley bowlers knuckled down to the task and bowled steadily, restricting scoring opportunities throughout the Appleton innings.

With regular wickets falling as the batsmen tried to impose themselves Appleton closed on 125-9. Hasan was the best bowler for Timperley with a miserly 1-8 off 14 overs.

On Sunday and Monday, Timperley's third XI concluded their 2017 cup campaign with defeats against Cheadle and Hale Barns.

In the Cheadle fixture Timperley scored 138-4 in response to Cheadle's 180, Coad top scoring with 54.

On Bank Holiday Monday, Timperley travelled to Hale Barns and posted 133-3 with Jamie Matthews top scoring with a well played 46no.

Hale Barns got home with four balls to spare courtesy of a 19-ball 39no from Christian Dodson, despite the earlier efforts of Fisher (3-12) and Clarke (3-14).

The previous week, first XI opener Grant Hodnett scored 133no from 265 balls at Didsbury in a total of 246-6.

In reply Didsbury scored 207 all out with wickets shared by Jack White (3-57), Rudolf Brenner (3-63) and Nathan Brown (3-24).

The seconds defeated Didsbury seven wickets in a low scoring game, scoring 86-3 in response to 85 all out from Didsbury.

The third XI won by 191 runs at Ashley, Rajasekeran scoring 115no for Timperley.