CRICKET made a welcome return at the weekend with Toft having five teams in action, from seniors down to under 15s.

The first XI made the short trip to Timperley for two T20s games, a format in which they enjoyed great success last year.

Toft lost the toss and were put into bat – and it was something of a tough start.

They suffered the second over loss of both Robert Sehmi (5) and Ben Staniforth (4) before Andrew Jackson (72) and Ewan Williams (26) put on 92 for the third wicket.

Jackson hit six sixes and four fours with Williams rotating the strike cleverly.

A few hefty blows from James Scott (26) and Toby Drummond (12) meant that Toft finished on 158-7.

Timperley got off to a flyer in response, putting on 99 for the first wicket inside 11 overs. However, the spin of Joe Stanley (1-22) and James Lomas (2-32) pegged Timperley back to 104-3.

The game looked lost at 149-3 with five overs left, however tight bowling from Scott (2-24) and Jackson (1-33) meant Timperley needed four off the last over, and then three off the last ball. A six settled it for Timperley.

In game two, it was Timperley who batted first.

A much more disciplined bowling display from Toft meant they took wickets at regular intervals throughout the innings, Dunkerley (2-27), Scott (3-19) and Stanley (2-17) and Timperley finished on 117-8.

Toft got off to a much better start, putting on 69 for the first wicket (Sehmi 44 and Williams 40).

Toft kept chipping away at the target but with only Scott Craig (11) the other batsman to get into double figures, it left a nervy finish with Toft needing five to win off the last two overs. This was reached with seven balls to go.

In the second XI’s 45-over match against Oulton Park, George Muirhead opened the batting and scored a watchful 44 which was backed up by the skipper Paul Ashley who got his first 50 of the season. However, only two others made it to double figures (Bones 15) and Nightingale (10) and the side finished on 160-6.

Oulton Park got off to a great start, scoring 79 for the first wicket, however some wizardry from Nigel Muirhead (3-24 off 9) pegged them back to 84-3.

Oulton Park got to their target with seven overs to spare.

A young 3rd XI side led by Dan Gibbon lost the toss v Alderley Edge and batted first.

Toft lost Archie Close to the first ball of the game and were up against it at 25-3 but some mature batting by skipper Dan Gibbon (62) and Omar Siddiqi (33) and then some good hitting from Adam Kenyon (22) meant Toft finished at 171-9 off their 40 overs.

Toft were up against it in the field with Alderley Edge reaching 86-1 but then Dan gibbon got a run out for the team which opened the door for more wickets to fall. Sean Manning took 3-40 and Gibbon 2-30 and Alderley Edge finished on 150-7 and a win for the 3rd XI.

On Friday night Toft's u19s took on Lindow u19s in a low scoring affair. Ben Staniforth top scored with 36 as they reached 92-6 off their 20 overs. Toft did really well to keep themselves in the game (Sean Manning 2-9) but Lindow took victory off the last ball. They might well rue the 18 wides they bowled!

Toft's u15s got off to a positive start with Archie Close (20),Harrison Milner (35 retired) and Rohan Fernando (24) getting them to 111-4 off their 20 overs. Some very tight bowling from the Toft lads, Galvin (1-6), Gaskarth (1-7), Hildred (1-13) and Hough (2-3) meant Macclesfield could only reach 73-5.