Eccleshall beat Checkley by 4 wickets.
Eccleshall won the toss and asked Checkley to bat first at Four Trees. Checkley lost James Abbotts early before Tom Carrigan and James Kettleborough added 42 for the 2nd wicket. Carrigan made 43 before he was LBW to Murvin Abinash. Kettleborough made 22 before being bowled by Oliver Palmer, Bryce Parsons made 25 and Nils Priestley 31 before Checkley collapsed from 147/4 to 164 all out with 7.4 overs unused. Eranga Dissanagge instigated the collapse by taking 4/18 from 5.2 overs. The final three Checkley wickets fell for no runs in 4 balls as they wasted a good start.
Ben Rogerson made 40 at the top of the order for Eccleshall as their chase began strongly. Myles Coughlan made 53* as he guided Eccleshall over the line with 11 balls remaining. He shared a stand of 53 with Dissanagge as Eccleshall made their way to the target, and despite a late wobble when they lost three wickets for 1 run with the winning line in sight, Coughlan was still there at the end to see them home. Parsons and Priestley each took two wickets apiece, but it was not enough in the end.
Hem Heath beat Audley by 5 wickets.
Audley were asked to bat first on their trip to Hem Heath, but only Freddie Doorbar and Ali Hamza Waseem, who both made 20, were the only batsmen to make any impression against the Hem Heath bowling attack. Dan Richardson was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with impressive figures of 4/12 from 8 overs. Liam Banks, Ben Topley and Greg Prime each took 2 wickets as Audley were bowled all out for 103.
Hem Heath slipped to 39/4 in response as the Audley new ball bowlers dragged their side back into the game, but Matthew Hodson made 47, adding 61 with Sam Wilcox, who made 21* as Hem Heath got over the line with over 15 overs remaining.
Moddershall beat Meakins by 50 runs at Barnfields.
Meakins won the toss and asked Moddershall to bat first. Mauaz Ahmed and Sam Kelsall then added 161 in 31.5 overs as they got Moddershall off to the perfect start. Ahmed made 77 from 94 balls; he struck nine 4’s in his innings. Kelsall made 74; a happy return to form for the Staffordshire opener. He struck seven 4’s and two 6’s as the pair scored at a good rate. Joseph Walley and Jack Darlington added 36 late runs to push Moddershall up to 228/7 off their 45 overs.
Sam Moores made 32 at the top of the Meakins reply, but no batsmen could play the match-defining innings for Meakins. Jacob Garlick took 4/31 as he reduced Meakins to 81/5 and put the brakes on their reply. Peter Wilshaw made 33, but when he was dismissed, Meakins were in deep trouble at 138/7. Jack Hammond made 24 before they were finally bowled all out for 178. Danushka Sandaruwan took 3/19 from his 9 overs as he strangled the Meakins lower order.
Stone beat Newcastle and Hartshill by 19 at the Potteries Oval.
Stone were asked to bat first after Castle won the toss. Big-hitting George Hawbrook got Stone off to a fast start; he made 50 off just 39 balls before he was stumped off the bowling of Mo Rameez. In typical Hawbrook fashion, he made 50 of the first 62 runs scored whilst he was at the crease. Jack Harvey then joined Sam Graham and the pair added 116 for the second wicket before Graham was bowled by Joe Thorne for a well-made 60 from 105 balls. Harvey went on to make 86 before being bowled by Rameez, his innings included nine 4’s and two 6’s as Stone closed on 231/6 from their allocation.
Rameez claimed 3/45 and Thorne 2/30 from their 9 overs.
No Castle batsmen could get going against Stone’s impressive spin bowling quartet. Once the new ball had worn off, the scoring rate slowed, and they were quickly 70/4. Andy Whitehead made 30, and Guy Bridgett 44, as they just couldn’t catch up with the required run rate.
Jack Batchelor took 3/34 and Warrick Fynn 3/38 as the Stone spinners strangled the Castle batsmen in the middle overs. Reid Taylor also took 2/36 as Stone sent down 35.4 of spin as Castle were dismissed with 2 balls of their allocation remaining.
Leek beat Whitmore by 8 wickets at the Gemini ground.
Whitmore batted first after Leek won the toss, but only Celeb Mierkalns, who made 50, could do anything against a relentless Leek bowling attack. Joshua Hudson took two early wickets as Whitmore slumped to 24/3. The Leek spinners then got into the game as Matthew Morris took 2/17 and Anis Raza took 3/6. Both showed off their skills as they worked their way through the Whitmore lower order, as they were bowled out for 124.
Despite losing Tom Moulton to the first ball of the chase, out LBW to Muhammad Imran, Leek had few issues in chasing the total down. Hamaiz Mahmood made a run-a-ball 35 coming in at number 3. But it was Jurie Snyman, who made an unbeaten 65 from 55 balls, that powered Leek to victory. He shared an unbroken stand of 79 with opener Matthew Morris as Leek took the points.
