T20 Cup Round 1

Manchester CC 179-6
A Lieberman 64

Offerton 182-5
Offerton won by 5 wickets

Manchester Cricket Club suffered defeat in their opening game of the Twenty20 Cup after losing out to Offerton by five wickets.

Akiva Lieberman hit seven fours and four sixes in a rapid 64 to help Manchester to 179-6 off their 20 overs.

An opening stand of 95 between Lieberman and partner Simon Jeffries appeared to have put the home side in control with the Offerton bowlers unable to make the breakthrough.

Huddy Lieberman added 29 and Ray Tammam finished unbeaten on 24 as Manchester finished strongly.

Offteron, requiring nine an over, made a poor start after losing two early wickets.

But a destructive middle order partnership soon had the ball being smashed around the ground at every opportunity.

In the end, Offerton reached their target with 2.5 overs to spare to record an emphatic win and leave Manchester thinking of what might have been.

Meanwhile, Salford crashed out of the Twenty20 Cup following an 18-run defeat by Wilmslow.

Daniel Paul’s outstanding spell of 4-12 from three overs helped limit Wilmslow to 175-8.

Robert Marks claimed 1-6 and Jonny Wineberg took 2-24 as Salford began to turn the screw.

Chasing 176 to win, Wineberg led the way with an unbeaten 48 but a lack of support meant the visitors fell short of their victory target, finishing on 157-6.