Macclesfield drew at Neston to further cement their position in the top half of the Premier League.

With the sun shining, a flat wicket and the outfield looking magnificent, the hosts opted to bat and defend a total as they had successfully done in the reverse fixture.

Macclesfield got off to a good start with the ball for a second week on the bounce with openers Ian Tait and Pete Barron testing the batsman, Tait bowling an immaculate line and length and Barron’s ferocity causing all sorts of problems.

After a tight first 10 overs in which Luke Pavlinovich was bowled off a no ball, the Aussie opened his shoulders and accelerated the scoring until Rob Porter had him caught in the ring for 46.

The other opener soon followed, well caught by Keen at mid-off.

The next 10 overs saw the new batsman David Hurst and Luke Camden put on a measly 15 runs before Camden was well taken at gully off Tait, taking Neston to 110-2 off 35 overs.

The longer Hurst batted the more confident he became, playing some class shots to get to his half century.

He eventually brought up a deserved hundred on the last ball of the innings. He was supported by the middle order as they managed to bat themselves to a commanding 263.

Macclesfield lost Ben Morrison early in the proceedings to a ball of the highest class but Khalid Sawas and Rick Hough showed a decent temperament after the early loss, riding their luck through a tough opening spell.

When ECB restrictions meant Davis had to come out of the attack, the wily Stimpson was introduced.

He tied down Hough and Sawas initially, eventually bowling Hough for 44.

With 20 overs to go and 140 runs needed Macclesfield had their work cut out and there was no better player to come to the crease than Porter.

He had a few sighters before going after the bowling with some clean strikes. He was unfortunately run out at the bowler’s end with a fortunate return deflection for a quick 55.

Sawas continued his work at the other end as Keen attempted to carry on where Porter left off before mistiming to mid-off.

Sawas eventually passed his century with a blistering shot through mid-wicket. With Macclesfield needing 30 off the last three overs Sawas was dismissed for 111, stumped while trying to find the boundary.

Despite Tom Parfett’s best efforts in the last few overs Macclesfield crumbled to 252-9 and ended up with 11 points from the draw, compared to Neston’s 17.