Little Stoke take giant leap

Barlaston were beaten by a superb Wood Lane run chase as Little Stoke now lead the charge at the top of the Waterworld Premier Division.

Muhammad Khan was the mainstay of the Barlaston innings hitting a brilliant 159 with support from Ben Grange (63) in their total of 290 for eight.

Wood Lane looked to be reeling at 85 for three, but Ashar Zaidi (96) and Richard Hassall (97 not out) steered Wood Lane home in the 49th over for the loss of only four wickets.

Little Stoke won in similar fashion, chasing down Stone’s target of 174.

Phil Cheadle (64) and Asim Zaka (56) put on 124 for the fourth wicket but Little Stoke’s Shabir Ahmed took excellent returns of 5-41 to help restrict the visitors.

Little Stoke’s openers John Hancock (43) and Richard Adams (40) gave them a great start before Australian Michael Tudehope stemmed the flow of runs in his 20-over spell claiming 4-31.

Little Stoke got over the line thanks to Andrew Bryan’s unbeaten 37 with two overs spare.

Audley’s Sean Price hit 94 as he and Michael Longmore (48) have a match-winning stand of 140 in reply to Porthill Park’s 187 for six.

Earlier, Porthill’s Saeed Anwar hit 60 alongside David Cotton’s unbeaten 40.

Porthill's Saeed Anwar

Ben McGuire’s 69 helped Knypersley to beat Longton. Chasing 201, McGuire and Paul Goodwin (39) ensured they reached the target for the loss of six wickets in the 51st over.

Earlier, Nayyer Abbas’s 7-59 helped to spin his way through Longton’s batters with only Pete Wilshaw (48) and Dave Edwards (30 not out) providing any real resistance.

In the clash of the bottom two sides, Hem Heath had to settle for a winning draw against Elworth. Lee Ridgway’s 70 helped his side post a competitive 202 as Elworth’s Chris Winter claimed 5-58.

In reply, Elworth settled for the draw after the loss of early wickets. Muhammad Jahangir (3-26) and Daniel Milligan (4-56) the pick of the Hem Heath attack as Elworth closed on 167 for eight.

Michael Brown’s 5-18 helped Burslem to bowl Moddershall out for 111. Brown had good support with the ball from Samuillah Khan (3-39). And the run chase was completed comfortably with Khalid Malik (51 not out) and Khan (30 not out) reaching the total after 28 overs.