WAYFARERS' first XI came back to the clubhouse full of smiles after beating The Groves by eight wickets in the Cheshire Alliance League on Saturday.

The Groves batted first on their home pitch and were soon in trouble at 45-7, having no answer against the left arm action of James Bennett.

He finished with figures of 4-18, and was assisted by Antony Mape, who bowled a very accurate spell of 3-22, as The Groves collapsed to 77 all out.

Richard Caulfield with 22 got Wayfarers off to a good start, and then Tom Atherton with a solid 26 not out and Michael Ostick (24 not out) soon saw Wayfarers home to end on 79-2 after just 19 overs and collect maximum points.

The seconds had a good match against Heaton Mersey Village who scraped home on 144-8 after chasing Wayfarers’ total of 141.

Wayfarers’ depleted side got off to a shaky start, until skipper Jack Cooper (10) and Eric Hanagan (46) steadied the side and, with Tom Johnson coming in at the end to add on a useful 22 not out, Wayfarers reached 141 all out.

Samuels (37) and Wood (20) gave the visitors from Heaton Mersey confidence to recover to 80-4, but Alex Killeen took 3-48 and Jorge Williams 2-15 to give Wayfarers a chance as the visitors went to 122-7.

But they were unable to finish the task and Heaton Mersey Village came out the victors as they reached on 144-8.