July 2026

Cheshire County Cricket League Division 3 Ashton on Mersey CC 1st XI 274-6 Beat Warrington CC 1st XI 271 all out Ashton maintained their title challenge with a heart-stopping victory over Warrington at The Beets. Losing the toss and being asked to bat first, Ashton took full advantage of a flat batting track and a scorched outfield, with runs flowing freely. Whilst wickets fell as the home side pressed on, the run rate was maintained and a huge total looked on the cards. Charlie Eaton led the way, with a fine knock of 82, but the visitors stuck to the task and supported by some excellent fielding they prevented the game from running away from them. The innings was marred by an unfortunate injury to Warrington’s skipper, Harley Barratt, who damaged an arm diving for the ball. His absence was to prove crucial later in the day. Some late hitting allowed Ashton to progress to 274-6 at the innings break, a fine score but perhaps 20-30 runs light given the ideal batting conditions. In reply, Warrington batted superbly to try to meet the challenge. The game ebbed and flowed with Tom Higham leading the way with a superb 68. But Higham went to a splendid boundary catch by Charles Erasmus, and the effort seemed to have stalled. Erasmus took two wickets to leave the visitors needing 50 runs with the last available batters at the crease. With great energy Matthew Wright and Eswar Peddi kept pressing for what seemed an unlikely win. As the target got nearer, Peddi launched a huge six to leave Warrington needing just 4 to win. But Erasmus burst through Peddi’s defence with his next ball to take the last wicket and leave Ashton winners by just 3 runs. The fact that Warrington were a man down was a key factor in their heroic attempt falling short, but both sides deserve great credit for delivering a great game of cricket played in the right spirit. Ashton’s 2nd XI lost their contest away at Warrington. Ashton 200-7 (Sam Thozer 57) Warrington 204-6 (Patrick Tyrrell 60, Hassan Bukhari 51, Ryan Carey 4-40) The 3rd XI lost their Sunday clash with Bredbury St Marks at The Beets. Ashton 158 (Noman Zubairi 4-48) Bredbury 159-5 (James Guy 53 no) Pictured Charlie Eaton bats Charles Erasmus takes the final wicket 

Cheshire County Cricket League Division 3 Ashton on Mersey CC 1st XI 200-7 Beat Middlewich CC 1st XI 198 all out Ashton on Mersey remained top of the table after a hard-fought win against a battling Middlewich side at The Beets. Losing the toss and being asked to bowl first on a sweltering day, Ashton found their guests in a belligerent mood with the bat, as the early overs saw numerous boundaries being hit. But there was an element of luck in this approach and wickets soon began to fall. At 97-5 the innings could have imploded, but George Oakes produced a fine knock of 81 to steer the Middlewich ship through a tricky period. The innings could have grown further but Charlie Eaton stepped up to destroy the rest of the batting with a five wicket haul including a rare all bowled hat-trick. Eaton finished with figures of 5-40 as Middlewich were bowled out for 198, somewhat below par on a fine batting surface with a lightning quick outfield. In reply Ashton started well with opening partners Tom Scott and Saeed Bhamjee putting on 46 before Bhamjee fell. Another fine partnership between Scott and Harris Yassin took the score to 122, with Ashton looking in full control. But when Yassin went it heralded a clatter of wickets, reducing Ashton to 136-6. With nerves jangling, skipper James Marshall steadied matters with a calm knock, and despite losing Scott for an excellent 83, Marshall and Dave Patterson brought home the win by three wickets with 6 overs to spare. The win was hard won and Ashton will need to cut out some of the errors which made this one tighter than it should have been, as they welcome Warrington to The Beets next week. Ashton’s 2nd team recorded a fine win away at Haslington. Ashton 296-7 (Mike Roberts 124, Sam Thozer 85) Haslington 142 all out (Ryan Carey 5-27) The Ashton 3rd XI continued their excellent season with a 106 run win away at Davenham. Ashton 229-4 (Nitin Kakulde 61, Mohit Gupta 56) Davenham 123 all out. The Ashton 4th Team made it a clean sweep on weekend wins as they got home in a high scoring game at home against Cheadle Hulme Ladybridge. Ashton 235-8 (Finn Coburn 102, Steve Mckinney 59) Cheadle Hulme Ladybridge 179 all out (Ian Lawlor 81, Keon Taleb 5-22, Jack McHugh 4-17)  Pictured Tom Scott bats Charlie Eaton takes one of his hat-trick wickets 

Cheshire County Cricket League Division 3 Ashton on Mersey CC 1st XI 205-6 Beat Heaton Mersey CC 1st XI 200 all out Ashton returned to the head of the Division after they came out on top of a titanic, nerve shredding clash at Heaton Mersey. Batting first Ashton started well, with the new opening partnership of Tom Scott and Saeed Bhamjee seeing off the new ball. Harris Yassin kept up the batting momentum and at 135-3 Ashton looked poised to post a substantial score. But the home side fought back to take three quick wickets as the Ashton effort stalled. It was left to skipper James Marshall and keeper James Newton to put together an unbeaten 62 run partnership which allowed Ashton to set a target of 205. The Heaton reply began in dramatic fashion as Charles Erasmus took two wickets in his first over. A spilled catch prevented an even better start for Ashton and Heaton rebuilt thanks to Daniel Ahmed and the ever-threatening Ibrar Latif. The pair cruised to a 50 partnership before Marshall beat Latif’s defence to trap him lbw for 37. Any hopes of a batting collapse faded as Ahmed, Muhammad Ali and Nachiket Verlekar batted sensibly to bring the target within range. At 181-6 with overs to spare, the home side looked firm favourites, but Ashton dug deep to battle back into the match. A brilliant boundary catch by Charlie Eaton and some fine bowling from Charles Erasmus left the home side needing 7 runs to win when the 9th wicket fell. A run later, Kris Green burst through the defence of last man Daniel Heasley to leave the hosts stunned as Ashton claimed the win. Erasmus took the bowling honours with 4-40. This was a great game of cricket which saw Ashton at their best. A team in the truest sense of the word, they are now well placed to push on with their promotion bid in the second half of the season. Ashton’s 2nd team fell to a heavy defeat at home to Urmston. Urmston 264-5 (Ishaan Devaramani 74 not out) Ashton 107-9 (Craig Wilson 5-29) Ashton’s 3rd team continued their great season with a demolition of Christleton at The Beets. Ashton 274-4 (Mo Shadaan 113, Vivek Tharaken 103) Christleton 28 all out. Ashton’s 4th XI went down to a heavy defeat at Heaton Mersey. Ashton 91 all out, Heaton Mersey 93-4. Pictured James Newton Bats  Charles Erasmus bowls