Enfield boost their bid for top half finish
LANCASHIRE LEAGUE CRICKET
OF the four Accringtonbased Lancashire League teams, Enfield are best placed to finish in the top half of the table and secure a top tier berth next season under the new two-division format.
And they boosted their bid with victory at fifth-placed East Lancashire’s Alexandra Meadows last weekend.
The home side won the toss and inserted Enfield, a decision they were quickly made to rue as the visitors put on 46 before Mark Bolton had Charlie Jackson (28) lbw.
Fellow opener Lewis Wright stuck around long enough to put together an innings of 38 and there were solid contributions from Greg Jones (23), Liam Jackson (23no) and Joe Wrigley (26) as Enfield amassed 172.
After tea, Fergus Bailey enjoyed a devastating spell with the ball, accouting for three of the top four East Lancashire batsmen in quick succession.
He took the wickets of Minhaj Bhada (2), Mohammed Bhada (0) and pro Andries Gous (0) as the home side wobbled on 3-5.
Paul (47) and John Turner (32) steadied the ship, while Shahrukh Khan (26) and David Turner (25) threatened to whittle away Enfield’s advantage. But Easts were all out for 151, Jackson finishing with 4-19 and Bailey 3-54.
The win leaves Enfield ninth, 16 points behind Lowerhouse one place above them.
Church were beaten at home against Todmorden, who decided to bat upon winning the toss.
The visitors looked in some trouble at 72-6, but Elliott Gilford and Andrew Sutcliffe put on 62 for the seventh wicket, taking the score to 134 when Sutcliffe was caught by Jack Gaskill off Hassan Fazal’s bowling.
Todmorden closed on 148 with Gilford (35) last man out, stumped by Sam Tucker after bing tempted to go after a Zain Abbas delivery.
In reply, professional Zain Abbas was quickly sent back to the pavilion having faced five Kelly Smuts deliveries without scoring.
Bilal Abbas and Levi Wolfenden briefly looked like they might settle into a decent stand but Bilal (21) was bowled by Smuts, who then claimed the wicket of Wolfenden (20) with the score on 3-45.
Craig Fergusson offered some hope with a knock of 25 but he too fell lbw to Smuts, who went on to end the resistence of Joel Gaskill (20) and in effect end the run chase, Church all out for 122.
Rishton registered something of a surprise win when they beat joint-second Clitheroe by six runs at Blackburn Road.
Clitheroe won the toss and opted to insert Rishton, who had a knock of 68 from professional Shaun von Berg to thank for their total of 112 – no other Rishton batsmen got into double figures.
Clitheroe looked well set for victory as openers Charlie Dewhurst and Ali Ross started their innings steadily, taking the score to 41 before Ross was caught by Chris Sanderson off von Berg.
But from there the home side collapsed to 4-49.
Matthew Lambert (5-27) and Scott Greaves (2-33) then swept through the remaining Clitheroe batsmen, dismissing the hosts for 106.
Accrington, without a league game last weekend, return to action with a home game against top of the table Darwen this weekend.
Church go to Great Harwood while Rishton are at Todmorden. Enfield have no league match this weekend.