Bottom-placed Toft came to Wilmslow Road desperate for a second win of the season to try and kick-start an increasingly unlikely great escape. With them, former Dids lads Dan and Rohan back in the First XI. Having lost normal skipper Jimmy Lomas to a wedding, stand-in Will Dunkerley won the toss and chose to bat first.

The two Henrys, Murray and Hughes got to work, and batted really sensibly, not giving Dids a sniff. In the 28 overs they batted together, they added a steady 110, but built a really good platform for the rest of the innings. Murray holed out for 43, but Hughes kept ticking the scoreboard over. The wickets began to fall with some regularity, but by the end of the innings, Toft had reached 240-6, with Hughes having carried his bat for a superb, chanceless 121*. The 1s really hadn’t bowled that badly, perhaps not quite extracting enough from a pitch that was starting to turn. Toft, however, just batted excellently, not giving their wickets away until the very end of the innings, and set a good, albeit not unchaseable score.

Dids in contrast, did not. Only 4 of the batters were really got out by the bowlers, and a number of bad balls were either not being punished or just getting wickets. Their spinners made good use of the turning pitch to restrict the run rate, building pressure in the process and therefore producing injudicious shots. The 1s eventually fell for 131, and probably out of the title race, with 45 points to first and only 5 games remaining.

Looking to redeem themselves, the 1s had the small task of Nantwich in their much-postponed Cheshire Cup quarter-final. Back to whites and a red ball, and for the second day in a row, Nick lost the toss and Dids were asked to bowl first.

Joe (sporting a fetching Broad-esque headband) opened the bowling and soon picked up an early breakthrough, pinning Ali Chugtai with the score at 34 off 6. Will came on first change and immediately found the spin that plagued our batsmen the day before. After ragging one past leg stump for 4 byes, he then spun one straight through the gate to bowl Jake Pearson for 5. Nick then removed their skipper, with not just a hint of luck, the ball trickling onto leg-stump with only just enough energy to knock the bail off. Despite this, Nantwich were pretty well placed at drinks, 77/3 and the dangerous Simon Mugava just getting started; two balls after drinks he'd put Steve over the trees at the Towers end. But the Wiz got in the act taking a wicket in three consecutive overs, including Mugava hitting it straight up in the air, Tim taking a simple catch at mid-wicket. The wickets kept tumbling, and Nantwich were soon 131 all out, Jonty skittling Scott Wardley (who had played against the 2As the day before) to close out the innings. Steve finished on a fantastic 5-33 off his 8, surprisingly his first Dids 5-fer of the season.

131 wouldn't normally pose to be too much of a challenge for the 1s, but the ghost of the previous day's effort and a turning pitch would make the job more difficult. The fact they made it look so easy showed the real character of the team.

Tim and Tom got to work, adding 49 in 10 overs to get the chase to a fantastic start. Tom hit some lovely clips and drives to reach 33 before Phil Stockton got 2 in 2, removing him and Steve. Rob joined Tim, the two batsmen who were nicked off early on Saturday proceeded to motor towards the target. Tim played the anchor role, while Rob attacked the flagging Nantwich bowling line-up. Within 30 overs the game was done, Rob had reached his 6th half-century of the year, and the winning runs coming via 4 leg-byes, with both batter (thinking he hit it) and bowler (thinking it was plumb) ending up aggrieved.

The win takes us into the semi-finals, away at Elworth of the North Staffs and South Cheshire League on Sunday 1st September, playing for a place in our first Cheshire Cup final since 2008, against either Hyde or Bowdon. So at least after a difficult weekend we still have silverware to play for this season, with just 4 weeks, and 5 league games to go. It really is a sign of the times, being slightly dissatisfied with a shot at only one trophy going into the backend of August, when in previous years, we would have snapped your hand off for a semi-final. So, the progress the 1s have made in recent years should be greatly praised, despite a difficult weekend.