SATURDAY saw us claim another vital win and a maximum 24 points which saw us go up to third position in the table.

It is quite bizarre that in the space of two weeks we have moved from third bottom to third top. However, this just reflects how close the bulk of the teams are in the Premier Division.

It was a close affair at Northop Hall, but we bowled and fielded well. As is usually the case up there, it was a wicket more suited to the slow bowlers with Zammit doing most of the damage with another five wicket haul to take him second in the league wicket takers this season. Chris Melia also had a great day with an unbroken spell of 21 overs as Northop Hall were restricted to 149.

Gareth Cross was again our best batsman with a fine knock, but too many batsmen gave away their wickets and it was left to Greg Jennings with a fine unbeaten 21 to see us scrape home by two wickets.

Sunday's quarter-final League Cup tie with first Division Newton le Willows was a desperately disappointing affair. On a good wicket I lost the toss again, and Newton posted a challenging 209 in their 45 overs.

I thought we fielded poorly at times, and despite batting well in spells, we repeated Saturday's failing in just giving away too many wickets. This put pressure on later and we fell just short of 200, and ended any possibility of silverware this season.

David Dove