SUTTON suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Aigburth that leaves them perilously close to the relegation zone.

After an hour's delay, Sutton were inserted on a very wet wicket. But they made steady progress to 42-1 with Dave Hodgson and Phil Kelly in good form.

But a debatable lbw against Kelly brought a dreadful collapse.

Hodgson was caught in the next over, having hit a fine 36. Wickets the began to tumble, with only Ian Greener's 20 saving Sutton from humiliation.

Even so, the Sutton total of 90 seemed unlikely to trouble the home side's strong batting line-up.

However, the veteran Stuart Rimmer got to work and had Aigburth rocking at 22-2 before the Indian professional steadied the home ship.

Rimmer continued to pick up wickets and his accuracy accounted for five Aigburth batsmen, before the inevitable defeat arrived.

With Prescot and Odyssey visiting this week, Sutton will be looking for a speedy return to winning ways.

Meanwhile, the seconds were involved in a fine match at New Street. Aigburth were asked to bat and were held up to 146-8 in 50 overs.

Remarkable spells by Ray Foster (4-56) and Mark Reynolds (3-85) saw them bowl out the overs between them.

And an amazing running one-handed catch by young Darren Hockenhull on the boundary was the highlight of the day.

Sutton pursued the total steadily and with 22 from Andy Barnett, 25 by the promising Hockenhull and 26 for Brian Wearden the omens looked good.

Steven Greener then launched a blistering assault in the last 20 overs, cracking 45 runs all over the ground, but his effort was in vain as Sutton ran out of time at 143-6.

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