To keep themselves top of league

the crease by Saunders and Stacksteads finished their innings on 168 for 7 with Croney on 40 not out.

Stacksteads had finished strongly at the end of the innings, batters Hussey, Holt and Croney had played some beautiful shots, the highlight being Holt’s two ramp shots in one over.

Cherry Tree started their innings slowly as the Stacksteads opening bowlers of Jones and Hussey bowled tightly culminating in the loss of Entwistle in the third over with the score on 3.

This brought skipper Farnworth to the crease who alongside Jones started to build a good innings. Jones was bowling some lovely deliveries without much reward until the 11th over when skipper Franworth was caught by Mahmood at mid wicket for 25 runs.

The following over Allen then struck the next blow removing opener Jones for 19 runs. Cherry Tree were now 48 for 3 from 12 overs. This soon became 69 for 7 as Geoff Allen chopped through the heart of the Cherry Tree middle order picking up a total of 5 wickets in quick succession. This brought to the crease Doherty and Bax in the 22nd over who began to frustrate the bowling attack taking the score to 99 over the next 10 overs. Andy Jones was then brought back on to try to remove the pair at the crease in tandem with Saunders. Cherry Tree were eventually all out for 140 and Stacksteads claimed 12 points to keep them at the top of the league.

Next up was Euxton - see report, right