Prestwich put the colour back in their cheeks with a six-wicket victory over Roe Green.
The side had been singing the blues in recent weeks with some below-par performances, and another similar display would have seen them slip deeper into the brown stuff.
But they dusted themselves down to sweep aside a dangerous Roe Green outfit, and were consequently elevated out of the relegation zone.
The visitors decided to bat first, and whilst Ryan Stanbury and skipper Andy Bradley bowled extremely tightly in the opening overs, the tone was set by some outstanding fielding.
Stanbury had claimed the early wicket of Jimmy Birch who had snicked off regulation-style to the gloves of James Wharmby, but the dismissal of former Prestwich professional Danny Jones was in a different league.
The left-hander firmly drove a legside half volley, the ball destined to thud into the advertising hoardings, but Lewis Smith at square leg launched himself airborne to cling onto a superb catch.
Anything Smith could do, Stanbury at least equalled, with a stunning overhead catch just inches from the pavilion boundary to dismiss Luke Williams, off Sam Holden’s bowling, after he had struck 32.
That made the score 63 for 6, as deputy professional Zain Abbas had already claimed two wickets by then with his right-arm spin. He plundered two more to finish with 4 for 41, as he and Stanbury gave the Green lower order no respite, and they limped to 102 all out. Stanbury finished with another creditable return of 4 for 21 from 11 overs, while Bradley’s 14 overs heralded one wicket and a measly 21 runs.
After the tea interval, Stanbury cracked three glorious boundaries before lofting a drive to Justin Kenyon at mid-off with the score on 14.
Abbas fell for 9 to make it 35 for 2, but Holden’s arrival at the crease to link up with opener Wharmby, not only upped the tempo, but put Prestwich back in the driving seat. With Wharmby sensibly dropping anchor, Holden stepped on the accelerator and cracked five boundaries and two maximums.
However, with just 7 runs required for victory, and a bonus point there for the taking, Holden’s flamboyance was his downfall as he was caught for 40 and Wharmby’s diligence ended when he was l.b.w for a hard-working 20. The target was duly reached by Mike Hudson and Oli Holt but Prestwich missed out on a potentially crucial extra point by losing more than three wickets in the run chase.
Two games remain for the 1st team, and they travel to Bamford Fieldhouse on Saturday, holding a two-point advantage over nearest pursuers Walshaw, with Egerton a further one point behind.
The 2nd team still have four league games to play, and next up is a home clash with Edenfield 1st XI on Saturday. They lost to Westleigh 1sts by six wickets last Saturday where Tom Kelly top scored with 26 in a disappointing total of 81.
The 3rd XI also play on Saturday, away to Friends United CC.
