CHRIS Colley and Ben Staniforth scored the bulk of the runs for Hale Barns as their nailbiting Cheshire Cricket League Division One encounter with Stockport Georgians ended in a tie.

The visitors paced their run chase perfectly, requiring just one run to win from the final delivery of the game, but four wickets from Stockport bowler George Hardman denied Barns the victory.

Captain Shehan Fernando (2-39) led the attack in the early stages of the match, sending both openers back to the pavilion to reduce the hosts to 20-2 off 10 overs.

Jordan Collins (1-26) then removed Francis Yates for a 22-ball duck, but Matt Hunter and Nick Johnson rebuilt the innings admirably.

Hunter was particularly aggressive in his approach and raced to 39 until he became Joe Fretwell-Walsh’s first victim.

And from 76-3, Stockport suddenly fell to 76-5, with Fretwell-Walsh (2-29) claiming a second wicket in the 25th over.

Despite his partners falling around him, Johnson remained at the crease, receiving able support from Iftikhar Hussain (15) and James Locke (14) as they attempted to accelerate the score in the latter overs.

Johnson (51) reached a well-deserved half century, but was finally stumped off the bowling of Dave Saddington (2-25) in the final over of the innings as Stockport posted a competitive 164-9.

In reply, Hale made a cautious start, accumulating just 37 runs from the first 16 overs before Khawar Iqbal was undone for 17.

His opening partner Colley (44) benefited from spending time in the middle and began to free his arms, adding 32 to the score in the space of eight overs until he was dismissed six runs short of a half century.

Hardman (4-40) got in on the act to claim the wicket of Sujoy Jaiswal (29), but Staniforth produced another mature knock under pressure.

The youngster survived a couple of nervy moments early on before making a fluent 38 as Barns shifted the score on to 135-4 with five overs remaining.

Chasing the win, the away side lost a flurry of wickets while attempting some flamboyant strokes and headed into the last over requiring eight with two wickets to spare.

Fretwell-Walsh found the boundary to level the scores with one ball to bowl, but he crashed an aerial drive straight into the hands of the fielder at cover point, meaning the two sides shared the spoils after an epic finale.

The result keeps Hale Barns in fourth position in the table, but the team lost ground on the leading trio and now lie 32 points adrift of a promotion place.