Church feel at
LANCASHIRE LEAGUE ROUND-UP MATTHEW JONES
CHURCH are back to winning ways as they beat Rawtenstall by five wickets at Blackburn Road after recent defeats to Colne, Ramsbottom and Burnley.
Church won the toss and elected to field. The home side – who haven’t played at home in the league since June 13 – got of to an ideal start as Levi Wolfenden accounted for Joe McCluskie (8) and Sam Kershaw (11) whilst Kamran Basharat removed Matt Kershaw (1) with the visitors on 31-3.
Rawtenstall professional Brett Pelser and Dan Barlow then added 66, before Basharat bowled Barlow for 22.
Four runs later Basharat picked up his third wicket, when he had Nick Payne (0) caught by Usman Tariq.
Wicket keeper Sam Tucker then claimed his 500th Lancashire League dismissal when he caught Andy Riley (0) off Wolfenden.
Pelser then finished on an unbeaten 59 as Church restricted Rawtenstall to 123-6. Basharat finished with figures of 3-33 off 14 and Wolfenden’s 3-25 off 13.
In reply, Sam Holt topscored with 33 and Joel Gaskill added 30 as Church reached Rawtenstall’s target in 42 overs with the loss of five wickets.
Pelser (2-20) removed both openers professional Usman Tariq (13) and Levi Wolfenden (5) as Church were 37-2.
Holt and Gaskill then put on 53 for the thirdwicket partnership before veteran spinner Keith Roscoe (3-34) picked up three wickets as he sent back Holt (33), Gaskill (30) and Bilal Abbas (12).
But Craig Fergusson (9 not out) and Jack Gaskill (8 not out) helped Church to victory with eight overs to spare.
Meanwhile, Accrington remain in sixth as they overcame Haslingden in a close encounter at Bentgate with the visitors winning by seven runs.
Haslingden won the toss and chose to field, Accrington professional Ockert Erasmus top scored with 53.
However, it didn’t all go to plan for the professional as he tripped down the pavilion steps on entrance to the crease. But that didn’t set him back, as the South African’s knock came off 84 balls whilst containing eight fours.
Other contributions from Ramiz Hussain (34) who added 36 with Erasmus after Accrington were 84-6 at one stage and Jon Hayhurst (23) got Accrington up to 182-10.
Stuart Crabtree also contributed with 15 and Graeme Sneddon (14). Matt Griffin recorded figures of 4-53, Joe Sipocz 3-20 and Jake Neary 2-54.
Jimmy Hayhurst (4-37) and David Ormerod (4-54) both took four wickets as Haslingden were bowled out for 175 in 49.4 overs.
Accrington had Haslingden struggling on 67-6 as the two seamers destroyed the top and middle order with professional Burton de Wett adding 28 and Graham Knowles (10).
However, Jack Taylor and Alex Marcroft put on 91 as they moved the score along to 158, Jimmy Hayhurst then picked up his second as Marcroft was bowled for 37 with the hosts still needing 25 to win.
One run later Hayhurst trapped Taylor leg before for 41. Jordan Shannon then added 16 with Neary, until Shannon was run out for 13 with the score on 175. This left Sam Coleman and Neary to get eight, Hayhurst then picked up his fourth as he bowled Coleman for 0 as Accrington came away from Bengate with the full 12 points.
Rishton move back down to 14th in the table as they were beaten by six wickets at Blackburn Road.
Rishton won the toss and decided to bat, Todmorden sub professional Mohammad Yasin recorded figures of 3-44