A rain reduced match saw the home side make a late run for victory but have to settle for a draw as they ran out of overs.

A strong drying wind enabled the ground to recover enough after a heavy downpour and in a match reduced to 84 overs, it was no surprise that when Chester won the toss they invited Alderley Edge to bat.

The visitors raced to 40 before Warren Goodwin – on his return to the side following a finger injury – got the breakthrough and had Alan Dey caught at slip. Destructive all-rounder Sohail Rauf went three balls later also from Goodwin who's movement off the seam was causing all sorts of problems.

Mark Currie and Lancashire's Simon Marshall then built a steady third wicket partnership of 43 and Currie also put on 55 for the fourth wicket with Jason Whittaker.

When Daron Cruickshank switched ends after an unsuccessful opening spell, things picked up for Chester and he and Alex Kegg made a late charge for wickets. Kegg finished with 3-41, Cruickshank 2-64 and Goodwin 2-39 as the visitors slumped from 138-3 to 175-8, failing to maximise their last 10 overs.

Chester were confident of an upset as they opened their reply with the returning Freddie Owen and Eddie Roberts but when Roberts went for 1 and Owen for 4, 6-2 seemed a long way off the required 177. Only poor fielding from Alderley kept Chester in the game as they stumbled to 18-2 off 10 overs when they really should have been five down.

Jim Gillson (57) and skipper Steve Ogilby (46) started to make a fight of it and a third wicket partnership of 98 saw Chester reach 104-3 with eight overs remaining. Suddenly things were happening but when both these two went in the pursuit of quick runs, a draw seemed certain.

But enter Cruickshank and Goodwin.

As Chester suddenly realised there was a slim chance, these two took off. It was always a long shot and Chester were to rue their slow start but a sixth wicket partnership saw Cruickshank hit 32 and Goodwin 26.

Nineteen runs were required from the last over and with tension in the air, the crowd were treated to the unusual sight of two long ons and two long offs on the boundary with Marshall bowling his legspin.

In the end Chester managed 12 and the late surge was just too late as they had to settle for a draw, closing six runs short on 169-5.

IROSHAN DE SILVA starred for Christleton in their six wickets win at home to Bramhall.

He took 3-33 to help reduce Bramhall to 175-8 and smashed 120 runs in reply alongside Rick Moore (30) as Christleton hit 176-4 of 39.4 overs.