Humbled by the 'Park

Chester slumped to their second league defeat running, going down by 20 runs at home to Oulton Park.

Having mustered a seemingly below-par 179, the visitors then restricted Chester to 159 as the batting mis-fired.

Chester old boy Mike Robinson top scored for 'Park with a well crafted 49 but the overall innings petered out somewhat, Callum Kegg hitting three big sixes in his 34. Jack Williams took 4-63 and there were two wickets each for George McCormick and Harry Killoran.

Confidently chasing 179 on a flat pitch Chester were in trouble early on as Warren Goodwin and Alex Money went cheaply. Bogged down in the 20s and 30s with the impressive Ben Gibson keeping a lid on things, Harry Killoran's side began to lose wickets regularly.

At 55-5 Luke Young threatened with some big shots but when he perished for 26, the tail needed to wag, led by Andy Metcalf.

Some sensible cricket suddenly brought Chester back into the reckoning but it was too little too late, ultimately falling short by 20 runs. Metcalf ended on 43, 'Park skipper Martyn East took 3-38 and there were two wickets for Gibson, Andrew Dufty and Harry Newton.

Next week Chester travel to Toft.