Church ease to T20 victory over Enfield
CRICKET SHELDAN KEAY
IT was another busy weekend of cricket action as the local sides were all in action in Twenty20 and Lancashire League matches.
CHURCH gained bragging rights against local rivals ENFIELD during Friday’s T20 match as they picked up a six-wicket win at Blackburn Road. Enfield batted first and finished on 114-4 at the end of their 20 overs, with Joseph Wrigley top scoring on 30.
Church eased to their target, with opener Sam Holt making 46 from 34 balls as they finished on 116-4 with around six overs to spare.
It capped off a good weekend for Church, as at Turf Moor on Saturday they also defeated Burnley by four wickets in the Lancashire League.
Burnley batted first after winning the toss, but good bowling from Church meant they were bowled all out for just 129. Church lost six wickets in reply, but reached their target with around 21 overs to spare, meaning they ran out comfortable winners.
ACCRINGTON’s weekend began with a win in their T20 match as they defeated East Lancashire by seven wickets at Alexandra Meadows.
Accrington decided to field first after winning the toss, with East Lancs making 145-5 after 20 overs thanks mainly to an unbeaten 84 from Joe Bolton. It was a close match, but Accrington reached their total with five balls to spare and claimed the win.
The undisputed star of the show in Accrington’s game against Rochdale was Ben Chapman, who followed up his knock of 67 by blowing away Accrington’s late order.
Rochdale found themselves at 8 for 3 after being invited to bat by the home team.
One of the three wickets down was professional Ed Moore, after edging to slip without scoring.
But with Accrington seemingly in the driving seat, Chapman and Michael Harling put on 122 for the fourth wicket.
Chapman is a burly fellow and normally plays accordingly, beefing the ball about here and there, but the circumstances here required a degree of watchfulness and Chapman supplied it.
Harling, on the other hand, is naturally more patient so was well suited to the role needed on this occasion and gradually they restored the balance, somehow negotiating deliveries that either flew through head high or kept low.
Both drove anything overpitched beautifully, in Chapman’s case, three straight drives going out of the ground and it was something of a surprise when Harling lofted Graeme Seddon meekly to mid off.
Chapman had passed his half century by this time, but he perished soon after for 67.
The quality of his, and Harling’s, innings was underlined by the rest of Dale’s order struggling to score, or even survive.
Still they managed to muster enough to post a challenging 185, a total most considered eminently defendable.
And so it proved. Steve Oddy did for the top order, claiming three early wickets, and with Tom Avery chipping in, Accrington were sinking at 38 for 4 and in need of a Chapman/ Harling type of rescue.
Home professional Janith Liyanage and Seddon hinted at providing it, but a sublime piece of bowling by Will Avery, who lured Liyange too far forward for Jamie Roche to complete the stumping, halted the recovery.
In the process, any residual Accrington hopes were removed as their tail was exposed to Chapman, who, bowling full and straight, completed for him a memorable day.
Along with their T20 defeat to Church, Enfield also came up short in their Lancashire League match after a 121 run defeat to Ramsbottom at Acre Bottom.
Ramsbottom batted first after winning the toss, and they finished on 215-8 after impressive scores from Tom Parton (71) and professional Senuran Muthusamy (52).
Enfield were poor in reply, with only three batsmen managing to pass double figures as Ramsbottom bowled them all out for just 94.
It was a mixed weekend for RISHTON, beginning with them suffering a 34 run defeat to Clitheroe in their T20 match on Friday.
Clitheroe made an impressive 176-7 from their 20 overs, with Rishton coming up short as they were only able to make 142-9 in response.
Rishton were more successful 24 hours later as they were able to pick up an emphatic nine wicket win against East Lancashire at Alexandra Meadows. East Lancs batted first, but were bowled all out for 158. Rishton eased to the win in reply, as professional Mansoor Amjad hit an unbeaten 79 to help his side reach their target in just 22 overs.
It was a frustrating weekend for GREAT HARWOOD, as they lost by 64 runs to Darwen in the T20 on Friday, before losing to the same side again in the Lancashire League on Saturday, with Darwen picking up a huge 216 run win.
Elsewhere in the division, there were wins for Walsden, Crompton and Todmorden.