TOFT tried to stop Chester Boughton Hall from retaining the Joseph Holt Brewery T20 on Sunday, only to miss out after a unique two-innings final.

Following a rain-interrupted day at Upton, skipper Toby Drummond and his counterpart agreed to bat twice for five overs each, meaning a result could be declared in case of another downpour.

Rob Jones (28) led Toft’s first attempt, which closed on 48-4, to which Chester replied with 55-4 thanks with big-hitting Ollie Law, dropped three times, contributing 39 of those.

Jake Hancock (44no) helped the men from Booth’s Park to 77-1 when they batted again, only for the holders to reach their target with an over to spare.

Jones took 2-14, narrowly missing out on a hat-trick.

During a semi final reduced to 10 overs-a-side because of a late start, Toft outplayed Urmston after totting up 113-2 with Hancock (56no) and Jones (51) both scoring half-centuries.

Their rivals mustered only 52 in the rain, with Joe Stanley (3-8), Jake Dickenson (2-7), Jimmy Lomas (2-15) and Jones (2-10) sharing the wickets.

On Saturday, Toft ceded first place in the Cheshire County League’s top flight to Alderley Edge after taking only eight points from a draw at home to Grappenhall.

Their guests racked up 272, including 50s for Rick Green, James McCoy and Albert Pennington, while Jones returned figures of 5-62.

Toft’s reply reached 192-8, the highlight of which was a match-saving knock from tail-ender Eddie Stubbs (33no) after in-form Jones (51) and Henry Hughes (44) had contributed higher up the order.

A trip to eighth-placed Bramhall follows this weekend, from 12.30pm.

Toft’s seconds lost by six wickets at Didsbury, where they posted 175-9 after Sam Pennington (39no), Daniel Lord (37) and Chris Drummond (31) made starts.

However the home team scored the required runs to take maximum points at 179-4, with Nigel Muirhead and Joe Regan splitting the wickets to fall.