SALE seconds beat the weather and Lindow on another weekend where rain had a major influence on fixtures in the Cheshire County League.

Sale firsts, thirds and fourths all saw their matches abandoned so it was left to the seconds to give the club something to cheer about.

Batting first, Sale got off to a confident start as Mike Bishop and Joe Cannon added 57 for the second wicket.

Sale then lost three quick wickets to slow the scoring before captain Gareth Watterson joined Bishop to take the score to 130.

Bishop finally fell for a well-crafted 86 just as Sale were looking to accelerate, eventually closing the innings on a below par 168-8.

Despite losing two early wickets to Rob Merga, Lindow looked on course for the win as Henry James and Jamie Peel added 105 for the third wicket.

The loss of James for 61 checked their reply, as Peel was left stranded on 69 not out as the visitors finished five short of the win. A quirk of the points system meant that Lindow picked up only six points, one less than an abandonment, and Sale nine points.

Sale firsts' match at Urmston was called off due to a waterlogged pitch while on Sunday, the thirds and fourths did see some action but their games against Alderley Edge and Widnes respectively were both abandoned.

Ashton on Mersey produced an excellent all-round performance to comprehensively outplay Romiley at the Beets.

Batting first, Ashton topped the 200 mark with Tom Anders, Tom Scott and Miraj Patel all scoring half centuries.

In reply, Romiley fell short of their target thanks largely to the impressive bowling of James Faulkner (4-21), Patel and (2-23) Zaheer Khan (2-40).

Wet weather prevented any play in the seconds fixture while the thirds – 150 all out with Raghu Tapal top scoring with 43 – narrowly lost to Mobberley who finished on 152-9.