Returning to Win-Lose cricket and coloured kit, and holding a 27 point advantage over second placed Hyde (5 wins out of the last 6 matches will be enough to secure the league title), the 1s went into a potentially tricky match at Alderley Edge. However, they were boosted by the absence of Arav Shetty, signed by Lancashire for the One Day Cup, and having won the toss, Nick decided to bat first.

Dids found themselves in a little bit of a hole at 22-3, with the ever dangerous Chris Sanders picking up Tim, aided by a fantastic catch by keeper Pat Ashling, and then Becks bowled via a hefty inside edge, followed by Will Valentine (bowling off about 5 paces due to an injury) bowling Haf with a lovely in-swinger. However, this brought Rob and Nick together, and they set about rebuilding. In the space of 20 overs, they had pressed on to 104, Rob easing to a fifth league 50 of the season off just 46 deliveries, with Nick playing the anchor role. Rob soon fell, but Steve continued the counter attack, hitting 7 boundaries for his 42 before being dismissed LBW, Dids racing up to 163-5 with 18 overs still to spare. Having hit the first six of the day earlier in the over, Nick decided now was the time to start his assault. Together with James, they added 29 in just 4 overs, before a flurry of wickets reduced Dids to 199-7. Despite a missed stumping off his third ball, Alex proved an able foil, rotating the strike as Nick regularly found the boundary. 199 quickly became 254, as Nick seemed to be cruising to a first league ton of the season. However, he was cruelly stumped for 99, so unlucky not to reach a well deserved ton, for a perfect innings in the situation. As it was, Alderley cleaned up the tail well, and Dids finished on 259.

Over tea (yep, Alderley still holding strong in that regard) the umpires reckoned it should be enough, but the wicket of skipper Sam Perry was always going to be important in the absence of Shetty. So you can imagine the delight in the Dids camp, when he felt for one outside the off stump and nicked off to the Horse. Youngsters Liam Yahathugoda and Alfie Usher put on a nice 50 partnership, looking really solid and scoring runs fluidly. However, Liam Y went for one shot too many, and skied it to Will off the bowling of the Horse (also note the fantastic Yoane Wissa impression by Mr Sehmi).

Alderley batted sensibly, and at the drinks break they had reached 138-4, right on the rate and really pushing Dids to find a breakthrough. Will came on straight after drinks, and got the much needed wicket. A pair of LBWs reducing Alderley to 139-6, their only hope now resting on Genaro Reddy, who had got to 42 at a fair clip, and Sanders, who had done so much damage in the T20 Final. Together they knocked it around, knowing the slowly rising rate wouldn't be a problem should they both be there at the end. Reddy was starting to look more and more comfortable, hitting some imperious straight drives, but after a change of field, he went for an ill-advised ramp and gloved it high to Sam. Sanders knew he only had one option left and that was to attack. He launched Will into the tennis courts, but the very next ball swung hard across the line, and he watched as the ball dropped right into the hands of Becks, who did amazingly well not to touch the rope as he slipped after taking the catch. Two more wickets in the space of five balls for Will, and the 20 points were all wrapped up, AE 197 all out and Streety claiming a fantastic 5-24 off 7.1 overs. James also finished with 3-43 and the three crucial wickets of Perry, Liam Y, and Reddy.

Wins for Hyde and Nantwich mean there has been no change at the top the table, while Timperley’s narrow loss to Lindow probably rules them out of title contention. However, everything is still in our hands with 5 matches to go, and the 1s welcoming Chester next weekend.