D.S.L. knocked Prestwich off the top of the table quite emphatically with Jason Bennett taking 9-32 as Prestwich were bowled out for 77. Only Chris Thomas (27) looked comfortable against him as he hit the stumps five times. With Barry Williams (37*) and Adam Hawley (35) putting on 75 for the first wicket, the result was a formality.

A similar low scoring game put Woodhouses back on top of the league. John Seeary (5-21) and Darryl Sloan (3-14) bowled Denton out for 45 and Houses went on to win by nine wickets (Daniel Britton 28*).

Denton West had a good run chase at Irlam where the home side’s 256-8d was reached for the loss of six wickets. Liam Parkinson’s first ton for Irlam came in 97 balls and Matthew Hood followed this with his first fifty. Gareth Senior and Robin Morris took three wickets each and West won thanks to 97 from Lee Dale and an unbeaten 60 from Jason Stringer.

Dukinfield moved up to sixth when they scored 234-9d and then bowled Stand out for 172. Paul Turner’s fifty was his 40th and David Gandy scored 67. Trent Scott took 4-92 and then scored 43 but 3-50 from Andrew Gleave helped bowl Stand out for 172.

Woodbank moved into the top half when their 186 at Thornham was 44 to many for the home side. Neil Ridehaugh top scored with 48 but this was bettered by John Willman (53) in Thornham’s 142-10 (Marcus McCheyne 5-31).

Flowery Field scored 210-7d at home to Glossop with Mark Dyson (60) and Andrew Lyon (46) putting on 117 for the first wicket. Bhatiya Perera took 5-77 but Glossop fell just short on 203-9 with Steve Bates scoring 40 and Dale Pennington 47.

Roe Green entertained bottom club Cheetham Hill but it was the visitors who took four points. R. Hussain scored 80* and Sean Flegg took 6-38 before scoring 58 in Roe Green’s 171-8.