Alderley Edge first XI’s ambitions for the season came to an abrupt halt in the space of four days.

They lost two quarter-finals – in the Red Insure T20 against Neston and the Cheshire Cup against Macclesfield – with a  league defeat against Grappenhall sandwiched between the two.

The Thursday evening match at Neston saw Alderley set a daunting total of 186 from 20 overs.

After a slow start, a swashbuckling 62 from Adam Worrall, with strong support from Calum Rowe and Charlie Reid, kept them in the hunt, but the run rate proved just too much as Alderley finished 19 runs short – a disappointing result but a creditable effort.

The weekend, however, saw two very below-par performances from the team at Moss Lane.

On Saturday Alderley were shot out for 112 on a decent batting track by Grappenhall’s seam bowlers, a total the visitors knocked off with the minimum of fuss in just over 20 overs.

Sunday’s crucial cup match brought little improvement, with bottom-of-the-table Macclesfield being allowed to reach a score of 233 from 45 overs.

Alderley’s batsmen never mounted a serious challenge as they were 153 all out in 39 overs.

Even the high-flying second XI faltered slightly, being held to draw at Grappenhall, who ran up a massive 306 batting first.

As unlikely a target as this seemed, Alderley’s batsmen responded with great verve as fine innings from Dave Leonard (92), Ollie Hall (74) and Tom Wildig (49) forced the home team – despite the huge score – to resort to ultra-defensive field placings, meaning any decisive result proved impossible.