NORTHOP held their nerve to secure an important two-wicket Premier Division home win over Gresford.

Gareth Williams (38) and Harry Lewis (36) were in the runs as Northop posted 127 for eight from their rain reduced innings, which was helped along by 34 extras.

Chris Ellwood (3-36), Simon Perry (2-11) and Gareth Bell (2-28) combined for Gresford, who found the going tougher with the bat after the turnaround.

Matthew Thompson struck 37 at the top of the order for Gresford, but Mohammed Khan (4-26) and Tom Blackwell (2-20) put the brakes on and the visitors were restricted to 126 for nine in reply.

Chirk slumped to the foot of the table after losing by nine wickets at Llandudno.

Having won the toss, Chirk quickly found themselves 13 for three as Mark Shaw, Chris Pritchard and Wynn Jones came and went without properly troubling the scorers.

An 83-run partnership between captain Andrew Swarbrick (70) and Nick Flack (42) rebuilt the Chirk innings, although once they both departed, the visitors’ innings was restricted to 165 for nine, Danial Evans picking up 4-16.

Jones claimed the wicket of Matthew Jones (26) after the restart, but Evans struck 78 not out and Keegan Armstrong finished unbeaten on 45 as Llandudno won inside 33 overs of their reply.

Denbigh produced a fantastic all-round performance to claim a seven-wicket success at high-flying Bangor.

After asking their hosts to bat, Denbigh made inroads as Bangor slipped to 39 for five on their way to 102 all out, Sam Lewis claiming 5-17 as Idrees Ijaz top scored with 20.

Gerallt Lyall (29) set the tone at the top of the order for Denbigh after the tea interval, before Tom Scrimshaw (37 not out) and Lewis (19no) saw their side across the line with 18 overs to spare.

Mold boosted their Division One title hopes with a six-wicket home win over Llay Welfare.

Llay’s top order were in the runs as David Phennah (47), John Lloyd (41) and Jacob Roberts (19) laid a platform, and although the middle order failed to shine, David Wright’s 24 not out saw his side to 159 for seven from a rain reduced 42 overs.

Richard Crane and Wes Gillam claimed two wickets apiece for Mold, who were led to victory by the Deniz brothers, George and Richard.

Mold were wobbling on 28 for three when the brothers came together at the crease, Richard hitting 32 before departing, with George seeing his side to victory with an undefeated 78.

Nathan Humphreys and Ethan Griffiths took two wickets apiece for Llay.

Bersham were unable to do Mold a favour as they lost to table topping Bethesda by seven wickets.

Hosts Bersham posted what looked like a challenging total of 198 all out, Rishan Fernando top scoring with 71 and Amith Tilakaratne (38) and Suresh Lakmal Koswathage (32) also in the runs.

Unfortunately for the Wrexham-based outfit, Bethesda made light work of the run chase, Jet Shea (54no), Matthew Harrington (54) and Nicholas Parry (48) helping their side to victory.

Matthew Humphreys took 4-20 as Mochdre (83-6) defeated Abergele (82) by four wickets and Trefor Williams bagged 5-29 as Llanrwst (155) beat Dolgellau (88) by 67 runs.

SCOREBOARD

Premier Division: Bangor 102, Denbigh 103-3; Llandudno 167-1, Chirk 165-9; Northop 127-8, Gresford 126-9.

Division One: Abergele 82, Mochdre 83-6; Bersham 198, Bethesda 202-3; Llanrwst 155, Dolgellau 88; Mold 160-4, Llay Welfare 159-7.

Division Two: Buckley 93, Mynydd Isa 95-6; Carmel and District 143-8, Halkyn 142-7; Corwen 104-9, Marchwiel and Wrexham 105-4.

Second XI Premier Division: Brymbo 2nds 117-9, Pontblyddyn 2nds 120-4; Denbigh 2nds 95-1, Buckley 2nds 92; Gresford 2nds 113-6, Northop 2nds 110; Llay Welfare 2nds 129, Bangor 2nds 221-6; Menai Bridge 2nds 333-7, Hawarden Park 2nds 98; Mochdre 2nds 163, Carmel and District 2nds 46.