The weather got in the way of Norley Hall CC first team games this weekend as both games were up for grabs.

On Friday night, Callam Hughes and his team welcomed Southport and Birkdale CC to City Road for their ECB Vitality T20 game, and at one stage it looked as if they would be chasing a total in excess of 200.

However, the reintroduction of Ryan Wood into the attack, alongside Mo Kapadia, led to Matthew Wood's dismissal for 94, and the visitors finished on 179-8 from their 20 overs.

Ryan Wood was the pick of the bowlers with 3-20 from his four overs, Kapadia took 2-17 and there was a wicket apiece for Liam Martlew, Callum Martlew and Hughes also.

Chasing such a large total against a team from the division above was always going to be a tough ask, but Shah Afridi unleashed several eye-catching boundaries before the clouds arrived and the light worsened.

After Afridi fell for 54 (in only 31 balls), the Norley batters tried valiantly - with exciting cameos from Liam Martlew, Edward Hurst and Ryan Wood - to keep up with the required rate despite finding it hard to see the ball.

But by the time the umpires took the players off the pitch in near darkness, the home team (on 123-5 from 16.1 overs at the time) were 17 runs behind on the DLS calculation with wickets lost being a key factor.

On Saturday, the first team welcomed promotion fancies Old Xaverians, who won the toss and elected to bat first.

After an assured start, the momentum of the game changed in a 10-minute period as first Ryan Wood struck (via an excellent catch from Colin Parrott at backward point) and then Sher Muhammad took two wickets in his first over, Old Xaverians going from 49-0 to 53-3.

After some resolute hitting, Hughes dismissed Ian Carroll to make the score 140-6, before the twin left-arm spin attack of Hughes and Muhammad saw the visitors all out for 176 in 48.1 overs, Hughes (4-29) and Muhammad (4-52) the stand-outs, with a wicket each for Wood and Callum Martlew.

Parrott and Alex Martlew saw Norley reach 20-0 at tea, before a near two-hour rain delay that saw 32-33 of the available overs disappear.

When play did resume, only 20 overs remained, and the Norley batting line-up showed a commendable attitude to chase victory rather than settle for a draw.

However, when Shah Afridi (23) was adjudged LBW, and with the visitors protecting the boundary, Norley had to settle for a draw – finishing on 135-6, with Matthew Hayes unbeaten on 27 and Alex Martlew making 26.

Meanwhile, Keiron Ashcroft took a much-changed second team to North Wales to play Prestatyn. Winning the toss and choosing to field, Ashcroft saw the home team eke out 114 all out in 58.2 overs.

Aston Bailey took 4-16, Andrew Magrath 2-30, Ashcroft 2-8 and there was a wicket apiece for Mo Kapdia and Wasiullah Momand.

With around 32 overs to chase down the required total, the top three of Gareth Cottom (15) debutant Steve Atkinson (19) and Momand (36) laid a strong platform for victory.

However, a series of injudicious shots saw the team finish on 102-7 from 31 overs, and the match ending in a disappointing draw.