Hoping to put a recent run of poor results behind them, Alderley Edge made the long trip to Oxton on Saturday, but met with another defeat.
Good bowling by Jason Whittaker and Charlie Reid reduced Oxton to 114-6, but their lower order batsmen were allowed to post over 100 runs at the end of the innings, leaving Alderley facing a challenging but gettable 217 for victory.
While Alan Day and Calum Rowe were together for the 2nd wicket, this seemed very much on the cards, but after Day was run out for 30, the rest of the batting crumbled alarmingly. Rowe being the only exception with a classy 70.
Alderley collapsed to 156 all out to gift their opponents a vital 25 points, and now have a nervous eye once again on the relegation zone, having seemed safe a few weeks ago.
By contrast the 2nd XI enjoyed a comfortable home win against Middlewich by 5-wickets, fast bowlers Ben Davis and Chris Cook doing the damage with the ball, and Jonny Usher (41) and Ben Heades (30) providing the basis of a successful reply.
A big week for the 2nds awaits, with a home 20-20 quarter final match against Urmston on Wednesday evening and a key top-of-the-table encounter at Neston next Saturday.
Match report by Richard Davis.
