There are also wins for Audley, Checkley, Moddershall, Newcastle & Hartshill and Porthill Park

Struggling Whitmore delivered the shock result of the weekend in NSSCL Premier A with victory at title hopefuls Hem Heath.

Whitmore, sitting in the relegation zone, had won just one of their 12 league outings before venturing to Trentham Lakes.

However, they upset the form book to claim a much-needed success in their battle to avoid the drop.

The visitors gave themselves a chance of adding to that solitary triumph by amassing 238-8 from their 55 overs in the early stages of the contest.

Aaqil Mohideen laid the foundations with 63, featuring 10 fours, with Danyal Hussain (43no), Muhammad Imran (34), Dilesh Gunarathne (32) and Hasnain Mazhar (22) lending support.

Liam Banks and Greg Prime picked up 3-38 and 3-49 respectively for the home side.

Banks (40), Matt Hodson (29), Dan Richardson (24) and Tom Hodson (20) all made starts on the resumption.

However, Hem Heath were bowled out for 162 thanks to an impressive Whitmore bowling performance.

Gunarathne (3-18), Bilal Hussain (3-21) and Imran (3-53) all captured three wickets.

It was a fine day for Whitmore, but despite the success, they still remain second-from-bottom in the standings and 55 points from safety. Hem Heath, meanwhile, fell 24 points off the pace.

Bottom-side Longton’s woeful campaign continued as they were thrashed on their trip to Newcastle & Hartshill.

A 12th defeat in 13 matches has left Longton a mammoth 83 points from salvation following another day to forget.

They were bundled out for just 92 on their away assignment, in which Andy Coxon made 24 and Nalin Priyadarshan added 25 not out.

Matheesha Perera and Ewan Farnell both chipped in with 12.

Mo Rameez orchestrated their downfall with 5-25, backed up by double strikes from Theo Abel and Kasun Ekanayaka.

Castle’s Rohan Vallabhaneni was a man in a hurry in the run chase as he plundered a 34-ball 58, featuring six fours and four sixes.

He was eventually dismissed, but Ryan Hassett (36no) led Newcastle & Hartshill to the winning line in just 13.3 overs.

Porthill Park clinched a crucial success as they kept the bottom two at arm’s length with a home win against Eccleshall.

Tom Steele’s 61 anchored Porthill Park’s innings as they amassed 230-6 from their 55 overs.

Steele’s knock contained eight fours, with his lead being followed by Oliver Shirley (46), Matt Coxon (40) and O’Shay Reddy (36no).

Murvin Abinash and Oliver Palmer shared four of the wickets to fall.

Eccleshall pushed the hosts close in reply, led by Ben Rogerson’s 52. He hit seven fours and two sixes.

Chris Plant (38no), Greg Clark (29), Eranga Dissanagge (20) and Muhammad Khan (16) also impressed, but the visitors were dismissed for 215.

New-ball duo Coxon and Ben Holt snared 4-29 and 3-55 respectively, with evergreen paceman Craig Barker weighing in with two scalps.

Leek dropped to third-from-bottom of the table after losing at Moddershall - who are up to second place.

Callum Hawkins (45), Arjun Annamalai (43), Joe Hawkins (42) and Sam Atkinson (33) guided the Modd men to 209-8 in the first half of the meeting.

Anis Raza was the pick of the Leek attack, finishing with 3-36 and there were two wickets for Jack Bowcock.

After the interval, Alex Mellor hit nine boundaries in his 59 to keep Leek in the contest.

Ross Dearden added 24 - and several other batsmen made starts - but it wasn’t enough for Leek as they were bowled out for 173.

Atkinson showcased his all-round credentials with 4-30, while Joseph Walley and Danushka Sandaruwan picked up two wickets apiece.

Leaders Checkley are 11 points clear after winning at home against Meakins.

The table-toppers took first use and managed to reach 170 all out at Four Trees.

Elliot Boardwell was the principal contributor to that tally with 54, hitting seven fours and one six.

Sithembile Langa (38), James Abbotts (22) and Tom Carrigan (18) also played their part.

Spinners Oliver Tucker (3-15) and Jalat Khan (3-24) took the bowling plaudits for the visitors.

Meakins’ run chase got off to a nightmare start as they were reduced to 36-6.

Tucker (31), Jack Hammond (21) and Amaan Tariq (19no) stemmed the tide to a degree - but the damage had already been done.

Meakins were eventually skittled for 107 as Langa scooped 3-28 and Charlie Lewis picked up 3-14. There were also two scalps for EJ Laverty.

Audley had a comfortable day on home turf as they saw off the challenge of Stone SP.

Half-centuries from Jack Redman and Hashim Rabi Ahmed were the eye-catching efforts in Audley’s 238-8 from their 55 overs.

Redman hit nine fours and four sixes in his 88, with Ahmed’s 54 including nine boundaries and one maximum.

Rob Hemmings followed their example with 46, while Ed Batchelor (4-40) and Jack Harvey (4-46) shone with the ball for Stone SP.

Plenty of Stone SP batters got out of the blocks in their run chase.

Warrick Fynn top-scored with 41, allied to Sam Graham’s 24, 18 from Leyton Bailey, 17 from Harvey and Dan Lunn’s 15.

But seamer Ed Jones claimed 5-28 - and Hemmings took two wickets - to leave the visitors all out for 149.