Cheshire lose at Herefordshire despite Chughtai ton

Cheshire 238 & 282, Herefordshire 257 & 264-6. Herefordshire won by 4 wickets

Scorecard

Western Division 1 Table & Scores

Cheshire suffered their second Champinship defeat as they went down by four wickets to Herefordshire  in Brockhampton.

A stirring day three rally saw Nick Anderson and Ali Chughtai continue to move Cheshire towards establishing an impressive target for their hosts. Chughtai completed a century on debut, eventually falling for 129 while Anderson hit 65 - the pair added 132 for the seventh wicket.

Having been 12-3 the day before, a target of 264 felt a great accomplishment as Rob Sehmi - only able to field and not keep due to a finger injury - led his troops out with just over two sessions to dismiss Herefordshire.

The hosts though got off to a flyer adding 78 before Dave Wainwright got the breakthrough. before Ben Chapman-Lilley added 51 and skipper Matt Pardoe 40  as Herefordshire took up the challenge. 

A game that had swung to and fro throughout sat at 50/50 with the score on 144-4 but star of the show, Henry Cullen then guided his side to victory. The young wicket keeper closed on an impressive 73* to go with his first innings' 61, taking Herefordshire to third place in the Western Division 1 Champinship.

Cheshire were left reeling at the bottom of the table with two losses from two and have a fight on their hands to avoid relegation.

Their next championship game is at Nantwich against leaders Berkshire (14-16 August) before rounding things off with a trip to Dorset a week later.

Herefordshire 22 points, Cheshire 6 points.