Langley travelled to second place Wistaston at the weekend and in a nail biting conclusion came out on top in a topsy-turvy performance.
The hosts won the toss and elected to bat on what was a rock-hard, flat surface.
Betteridge and Letven opened the attack and, despite the fast outfield and good pitch, runs were hard to come by, and the score reached 15 off nine overs when Betteridge had Scott superbly caught at slip by Cook. The opening pair still gave little away and tied the batsman down, the second wicket came with Wistaston on 34 when Towsend was caught in the gully by Platt.
Allwood joined Titus and he tried to add some momentum to the innings, but both fell, Titus bowled for three and Allwood the victim of an excellent one-handed catch by Towns at mid-off, Betteridge claiming his fourth wicket as the score reached 49-4 off 25 overs.
Cook and Betteridge then combined again for the fifth wicket and when Betteridge bowled Thornhill second ball Langley were sensing a quick kill as the home side struggled to 76-6. Towns then claimed Cogger with the score on 91-7 and 12 overs remaining.
Wistaston then fought back in style as Barnes and Hogburn attacked with success, the bowlers tired in the heat and the batsman took advantage, adding 67 in just eight overs before Pattison caught Barnes in the deep for a well-made 62.
Towns bowled Hogburn for 36 and the innings closed on 187-9 with Betteridge bowling unchanged for 24 overs, after having figures of 6-26 off 16 overs the likeable paceman returned with 7-81 off 24 overs. Towns claimed 2-50 off 10 and Letven 0-48 off 13.
Langley’s reply started well as Laughton and Little batted positively, adding 54 in 11 overs before Laughton was LBW for 15. After seven overs were lost to the rain, Little reached a fine half-century and Langley looked well set at 83-1 with 19 overs to go but after Cook (10) was bowled, Pattison was caught first ball, Platt exited lbw for three and Little, also leg before, for 52.
When Gay was stumped for three the innings subsided to 120-7. Stevens and Betteridge steadied the innings but 58 was needed off just six overs.
Some lusty blows saw 12 runs required from the final over. Betteridge despatched the first ball for six and Stevens the fifth ball to the boundary as Langley secured a great victory, Stevens (37 not out) and Betteridge (31 not out) the heroes. For the hosts Titus took 6-52.
Langley travelled to Saughall in the 1st round of the cup on Sunday and came out on top in what many thought would be a tough encounter.
Langley were asked to bat and, after reaching 13-2 off eight overs, they managed to put on 146-7.
Griffiths 4-25 was pick of the attack.
In reply Saughall took 13 off the first two overs then the pace of Cook and Towns reduced them to 17-4. The middle order fared little better as Cook claimed a further three wickets in a devastating spell of bowling to leave Saughall 35-7. Although Singh batted bravely for a defiant 23, the innings closed on 75 all out.
