We won’t be alone if we celebrate Cheshire League Division 2 promotion this season. Lymm have a pretty good case for wanting to see the back of us – and particularly of Alex Barber and Rick Holt…… The pair tormented Travers Scholes’ men yet again in our six-wicket win there on Saturday. Skipper Barber returned his fifth five-plus wicket return of the campaign including his 51st wicket,  as we bowled them out for 113 in the 37th over. This followed his season’s best 8-87in our earlier Birch Vale Drive win. And opener Holt, a century maker in that game, saw us through to valuable victory with a painstaking unbeaten 37, which included his 500th of the term. Last season, the chunky opener had top scored again when we put Lymm out of the Cheshire Shield. Rick also put in a stirling stint as stand-in keeper when Ben Allcock had his 18th birthday marked by a bad blow on a knee which left him in ice-clamped misery for most of the day. But his early loss gave us a chance to see three Badrocks on the field, twins’ dad Jon(46) gamely volunteering for a fielding stint. Badrock senior, playing in borrowed gear, almost pulled off a stunning catch and did well enough to hear suggestions he should revive the Over-40s. He also had a grandstand view of one of the catches of the season by son James, leaping high at square leg to snare one-handed the shocked McIntosh and give his skipper one of his six wickets. Only skipper Scholes offered much resistance, the hefty Aussie left-hander hitting 49 in 56 balls before being trapped lbw by Barber. Flattley, who bowled with pace and menace in the heat, gave him good support
  . Dave Badrock continued his successful deputising for the holidaying Tom Rolph. Last week, the young left hander helped Holt to give us a 10-wicket win over Kingsley. And this time we were nearly half way to our target before, on 18, he lost patience against McIntosh’s off spin to end the stand at 44. But Dan Oldland(4) and Jack Kelly(2) quickly followed and suddenly Lymm saw a glimmer of hope. At that stage, it was vital that Holt stayed there as anchorman and he did that superbly to frustrate Lymm. Andy Bashford(11) hel,ped him steady the boat before Stuey Milne arrived to finish off Lymm. The bulky hitter showed judgement as well as power despite taking only 15 balls for his unbeaten 27, which included only one single. Rick, often an admiring spectator, contributed just 10 of their winning 37–run stand, but we badly needed his selfless stint.
The win brought us 25 points – but no advance. Lindow, Winnington Park, the top two, and third-placed Cholmondeley matched us in the hectic race for Division One, We have plenty of work to do, starting with Cholmondeley at home this Saturday.
Scores: Lymm OP 113(36.3 overs; Scholes 49; Barber 6-23, Flattley 3-23, J Badrock 1-19) Romiley 115-4(31 overs; Holt 37no, Milne 27no).