ALEX Matthews helped himself to a magnificent seven wickets as Lindow secured a comfortable victory at Tattenhall.

He swung his way to 7-33 as the hosts were dismissed for 67 in the Cheshire County League Division Two clash, helping his side climb to second place in the process.

Lindow hit their straps with the ball immediately Matthews and Tim Young (3-29) proved too much for Tattenhall.

They were backed up very well by the fielding unit, with Homy Masud and Osman Butt taking two catches apiece.

The Lindow reply did not start well in the face of some good deliveries on a helpful pitch for the bowlers.

When skipper Ben Tyler fell for a duck and coach Liam Castellas was bounced out for the second week in a row, Tattenhall found their way back into the game.

Matt Ramsden scored a big-hitting nine but peaked too soon as he was trapped dead in front.

Ryan Mason-O’Brien dug in obdurately but just as Lindow looked to get going, rain stopped play for approximately two hours which frustrated the visitors.

When play resumed Jamie Peel was unlucky to fall straight away.

However, Mason-Brien (27no) and Butt (15) took Lindow to the brink of victory.

Butt’s big rear-guard effort came to an end as he tried to hit a boundary for the victory.

It was not long though before Lindow crossed the finishing line to seal the five-wicket victory.

This win closes the gap to 19 points on leaders Barrow, who fell at home to Christleton, while Romiley dropped from second to fourth after their defeat at home to Bredbury St Marks.

Lindow's seconds returned to winning ways on Saturday by beating visitors Weaverham by four wickets.

The star of the show was undoubtedly the returning left-arm spinner Graham Clinton.

Unavailable for the first half of the season, Clinton made his first appearance in 2017 in some style - returning figures of 6-18 from 13 overs of variation, menace, and beguiling turn and bounce that had the Weaverham batsmen in a muddle.

Although making hard work of reaching their target of 125 for victory, Lindow managed to get home comfortably enough in the end, with a patient 40 from Andy Hume and a steady 27 from Ryan Johnston setting up the victory.

On Sunday the table-topping thirds travelled to Ashley.

Batting first, the highlights of the innings were provided by father Pete Venables, who hit a well-paced 59, and son James, who hit some splendid straight fours and sixes in his aggressive 47.

After a sporting declaration by skipper Pete Hodge at 181, Ashley went all out for victory.

In the end they fell 20 runs short, with Rowan Day claiming five wickets and youngster Tom Orr picking up his first senior wicket.

Lindow could not grab the 10th wicket that would have secured the win as Ashley saw out the final over nine down.