Lightning Holt is Church star man
CHURCH and Oswaldtwistle CC went top of Pool 2 in the Presidents Cup after claiming victory over East Lancashire on Bank Holiday Sunday.
East Lancashire won the toss and elected to field, and Church came out fighting with openers Stuart Crabtree (21) and Sam Holt (79) getting their side off to a wonderful start.
Craig Fergusson (32), Levi Wolfenden (16), Kelan Florentine (42) and Joshua Scully (19no) also posted credible scores as Church put themselves in the driving seat.
After their 40-over spell, Church finished on 233-6 - setting East Lancasire an almighty target. East Lancs didn’t get off to the best start as Church made the breakthrough in the fourth over with opener James Westhead dismissed for 10 by Liam Dyson, caught by Fergusson. Dyson then claimed a second wicket with the dismissal of Daniel Lord for 6, once again caught by Fergusson.
Niall Boyle (24) and Adam Bolton (19) steadied the innings but Church’s bowlers proved too powerful.
Dyson claimed a third wicket, while Florentine (1), Philip Gilrane (2), and Nathaniel Young (2) also chipped in as East Lancashire were 157-8 at the end of their innings.
Benjamin Finch (34) top scored for East Lancs, but Church claimed a well-deserved victory by 76 runs. Having topped the group with victory, Church will now play a semi-final clash this Sunday against the winners of Pool 4.
Meanwhile, Church continued their brilliant form with victory over Enfield in the Hyndburn Twenty20 Cup on Bank Holiday Monday.
Church won the toss and elected to bat, with Wolfenden bringing up his half-century in the ninth over as Church were at 75-1. His top score of 63 saw Church set Enfield 140 to win.
Wolfenden continued his star performance with the breakthrough with the ball in just the third over, and Enfield were soon 13-2 as Wolfenden claimed his second wicket. Enfield were way off their target as Church bowled them all out for 58 to claim the T20 Cup victory.
Meanwhile, in the Presidents Cup Rishton and Great Harwood played out a thoroughly entertaining draw on Bank Holiday Sunday.
Rishton won the toss and elected to field - Great Harwood’s openers Caleb Greenhalgh and Matthew Oddie posted seven and 19 runs respectively, while Allan Armer top scored before being bowled by Brad Boddie, caught by Richard Fox.
Kasir Masood also chipped in well with 17 runs before he was bowled by Shaun Hutchinson in one of three wickets for the Rishton man.
Boddie also claimed three wickets, while Andrew Hickey and Matthew Bradley claimed two wickets apiece.
Harwood finished on 128 all out after 38.3 overs.
In their response, Rishton started their innings steadily with Brad Juliff posting 15 runs and Richard Fox claiming 40 runs off 94 balls before being bowled by Ethan Houldsworth, caught by Armer.
Kian Farnworth (20) and Boddie (19) racked up the runs while Jack Hilton contributed with 18.
In a dramatic final over, Rishton needed just two runs to claim victory, but with just two wickets remaining.
Oddie claimed the wicket of Hutchinson for 6, before Euan Clark picked up a single to put the scores level with two balls of the innings remaining.
With Rishton needing a single in their final ball, Clark was ran out in the push for victory and with both sides finishing on 128 all out it ended honours even.
In the third Pool 2 game on Sunday Enfield beat Accrington by two wickets. Enfield won the toss and elected to field as Accrington finished on 140-8 at the end of their innings. Opener Jonathan Hayhurst (50) top-scored for Accrington.
Enfield openers Lewis Wright (41) and Alfie Cook (35) were pivotal in Enfield’s response and they claimed the six points by finishing on 144-8 with a ball to spare to claim second place in Pool 2.