Immanuel either side of close calls

BOTH Oswaldtwistle Immanuel first and second teams were involved in close encounters at the weekend.

The first eleven travelled to Brinscall, and after winning the toss, made a good start with opening pair Phil Howard and Siraj Akhtar putting on 70 for the first wicket before Akhtar fell for 32; skipper Howard going on to make 61. Solid contributions from Kurt Smithson (35 not out) and the in-form Dean Martin (25) helped take the score to 216/9.

Andreas Sudnik picked up two early wickets, including the key wicket of the Brinscall Professional Nisal Francisco, however the home side’s middle order rallied to get them back in the hunt.

A three wicket spell from Daniel Metcalf appeared to put Immanuel in the driving seat as the required rate climbed into double figures, but a flurry of boundaries as the Brinscall tail wagged left just 11 runs required from the last over, fortunately Dean Martin held his nerve as Immanuel got home by 6 runs.

The second eleven hosted table toppers Ribblesdale Wanderers and batting first struggled to 96 all out, mainly thanks to a patient 32 from the experienced Andrew Clare.

In reply the visitors were quickly reduced to 45 for 7 as opening pair Matt Cook and Zameer Hussain ripped through the top order.

An 8th wicket partnership of 31 got Ribblesdale back into the game before a couple of late wickets brought the last pair together with 8 runs still required, however the visitors just scraped home.

Cook finished with figures of 5/39 and Hussain 3/31.