Accrington enjoy first win of new campaign
FOSTERS LANCASHIRE LEAGUE CRICKET
scored with 32 before he was run out, with Joel Gaskill (28 not out) and Levi Wolfenden (22) also contributing to the final score.
Church’s wastefulness with the ball proved to be the difference in the match, as they handed Darwen 49 extras during their innings. Brothers Scott Friend (29) and Mark Friend (27) top scored for Darwen to help their side reach the target after just 35 overs, earning the four-wicket win.
GREAT HARWOOD are still searching for their first Lancashire League win after they lost by two wickets against East Lancashire in a close game.
It was Great Harwood who won the toss and decided to bat, and they finished on 167 all out, with Patrick Swanney top scoring on 45.
Great Harwood took early wickets against their opponents, who were 44-4 at one stage, but good efforts from Mark Lomas (27), David Turner (25 not out) and Shahrukh Khan (24 not out) helped East Lancs reach their target with just one over and two wickets remaining.
Other matches in the Lancashire League saw Haslingden pick up a huge victory after defeating Colne by 10 wickets.
Colne won the toss and decided to bat, but struggled to perform, with just three batsmen reaching double figures.
Openers Chris Walton and Reece Whitehead managed just one run between them, with Joe Sipocz dismissing both.
Professional Neels Bergh could only add four, and with other players also losing their wickets cheaply, Colne were 32-7 at one stage.
Johnathan Nation (16), Mohammed Khalid (15) and Sam Tillotson (10) added a few extra runs to the score, with Colne bowled all out for 73.
Nick Benton was the pick of the bowlers for Haslingden, finishing with extremely impressive figures of 5-11, while Sipocz also chipped in with 3-17.
Haslingden then eased to victory, with openers Chris Cook-Martin (38) and Graham Knowles (26) needing just 13 overs to reach the target without losing a wicket.
Rawtenstall suffered a defeat after they were beaten by seven wickets against Nelson at Seedhill.
Nelson won the toss and decided to field, and they made early breakthroughs by getting rid of the likes of Ben Excell (5) and Paul Collis (0) for low scores.
Professional Andrew Payne managed 10 before he was caught and bowled by Khurrum Nazir, but Rizwan Shafiq helped Rawtenstall’s score along by falling just short of a half-century and adding 47.
Unfortunately, his teammates towards the end of the order couldn’t help him, with Rawtenstall going from 112-6 to 115 all out.
It looked like it could be a closely fought match when early wickets for Rawtenstall left Nelson on 18-2, but an unbeaten 49 from professional Devon Conway plus contributions from Matthew Pettinger (20) and Neil Thompson (20 not out) saw the home side easily win the match by seven wickets.
Ramsbottom were beaten too after they lost by 37 runs against Lowerhouse at Liverpool Road.
Lowerhouse won the toss and decided to bat, with opener Ben Heap getting them off to a good start when he scored 69 before he was dismissed by Tom Booth.
Professional Ockert Erasmus also performed well by scoring 50, whilst Joe Hawke added a quick-fire 30 from just 39 balls as Lowerhouse finished on 192-6 after their 50 overs.
Opener Fraser Kay tried to lead from the front for Ramsbottom, as he scored 53 runs before he was bowled by Patrick Martin.
The rest of his teammates struggled to add any significant scores though, with the next highest scoring batsman being Jonathan Fielding with 16.
It looked like it could be a close finish with Ramsbottom needing just over 60 runs heading into the final 10 overs, but late wickets fell and they were eventually bowled all out for 155, handing Lowerhouse a 37 run win.
This weekend sees the preliminary round of the Worsley Cup take place on Saturday, with Rawtenstall travelling to Lowerhouse.
Accrington take on Ramsbottom at Acre Bottom while Haslingden are away at East Lancashire. Elsewhere, Burnley entertain Todmorden, Enfield play host to Great Harwood, Bacup are at home against Clitheroe as are Rishton against Darwen.