Ashton escaped with a draw against Cheshire County Cricket League Division Two leaders Romiley on a day eventually decided by the weather.

Rain meant a delayed start to the game and when proceedings eventually got under way, Ashton were faced with batting first on a pitch offering plenty of help to the Romiley attack.

Openers Mike Roberts and Dave Patterson began brightly but once Roberts fell to Brad Snape the visitors struggled to push on.

The introduction of seamer Alex Barber accounted for Patterson but Tom Scott hit out to put runs on the board for Ashton.

When Scott finally fell for 29, caught in the deep, the rest of the innings saw brief cameos by Akash Patel and Zohaib Khan but none of the batters were able to build the innings the position demanded.

Two self-inflicted run-outs did not help the cause as Ashton slumped to 116 all out.

Barber was the bowling pick posting 3-18 off his 10 overs.

In reply, Jake Walker and Zohaib struck early to reduce the home side to 17-2, but some lusty blows from Ans Rashid Muhammad and David Badrock saw Romiley move toward the target. But the classy Zohaib hit back, removing the pair to leave the game in the balance with Romiley on 48-4.

Runs came from the bats of Alex Hooton and Barber, and wickets also fell to the spin of Zaheer Khan, before another downpour finished the game.

Romiley will think themselves unlucky to be left just 7 runs short of victory and Ashton were left wondering if Zaheer’s spin could have pulled off another comeback win. In the end the equal points earned leave everything still to play for in the promotion push in the coming weeks.

Ashton seconds also fell foul of the weather in a rain ruined game against Bramhall who faced just 17 overs before the match was abandoned.

The Thirds games were all abandoned without a ball being bowled

n Sale's teams didn't bowl a ball at the weekend due to the weather.

Home matches for the firsts against Urmston on Saturday and for the fourths against Northwich on Sunday were cancelled without a ball being bowled, as were the away fixtures for the seconds at Lindow and thirds at Grappenhall.

Only the Sale Silverbacks managed a start in the over 40s league against Alderley Edge.

In a game already reduced to 12 overs per side, the Silverbacks had reached an impressive 50-0 off 4.3 overs when the heavens opened again. Mark Rowe (32) and Mike Bishop (17no) were the run scorers.