Bacup no match for ruthless Ramsbottom
IN Saturday’s second round of the Worsley Cup, Ramsbottom enjoyed a comfortable win against Bacup, sealing victory by 202 runs.
Rammy won the toss and elected to bat first. Centuries from Thomas Parton – 114 off 136 balls including seven fours and four sixes – was matched by Kieren Grimshaw’s 102 off just 92 balls with 16 fours along the way.
Senuran Muthusamy also contributed with 51 runs as the home side notched up a huge tally of 313-5 off their 50 overs.
Bacup’s response started well with Billy Godleman (46) and Matthew Collinge (23) putting on 64 for the first wicket.
But when Collinge went at 64-1 and Godleman followed at 73-2, it was curtains for the visitors, Muthusamy, having claimed both openers’ scalps, went to take 6-23 off 7.1 overs.
Haslingden suffered a 54-run defeat against Darwen, who won the toss and chose to bat first.
Home skipper Mark Friend struck an unbeaten 121 and Siddesh Lad 50 as Darwen totalled 239-7 off their 50 overs. Best with the ball for the visitors was Robert Cobley, who claimed 3-20 off 2.1 overs.
For Haslingden, matthew Griffin (24), Mini Bhada (46) and Lewis McIntosh (40) all threatened big scores but they were unable to match Friend’s big hit as the visitors were dismissed for 185 in the 50th over.
Rishton bowed out of the competition at Chatburn Road where they suffered a ninewicket defeat against Clitheroe.
The home team won the toss and opted to bat first, Ali Ross (37no), Hammad Amim (17) and E Gay (39no) taking them to 112-1 off 14.5 overs.
Rishton’s chase got off to a poor start when they lost Sajid Patel cheaply, but Haseeb Hameed was in good form and struck a fine 61 off 88 balls. Sadly for the visitors, none of his team-mates were able to stick around long enough to reach double figures.
Hameeb had them within touching distance of victory only to fall last man out in the 38th over.
Lowerhouse enjoyed a 62-run triumph against Burnley having batted first and set a target of 174-7, Ian Holland top-scoring with 68 and both Charles Cottam and Dean Barlow hitting 30.
Burnley struggled in reply, Ockert Erasmus their top scorer with 28 as they were all out for 112 in the 37th over, Holland and Joe Hawke claiming three wickets apiece for the home side.
Middleton won by six wickets in their clash against Walsden at Towncroft.
The home side won the toss and inserted
Walsden, who managed 158 all out, Joe Gale their top hitter with 34 and Elliott Gilford slamming 33 off 39 balls. Tom Rutter claimed 3-21 off 7.2 overs for Middleton.
Keelan Shipley’s 71 set Middleton on their way to victory, James Tierney’s 43 all but finishing the job as they won by six wickets.
After receiving a bye in round 1, Norden welcomed old rivals Littleborough who are going very well at the top of Division 2.
Norden opted to bowl and Usama Malik picked up the key early wicket of Boro professional Travis Townsend, caught superbly by Zaidi in the gully.
The father and son Perren pairing of Zac and Clinton were moving the score along steadily and without looking in any trouble when Zac was unfortunate to be caught down the leg-side from Sami Waheed’s first delivery.
Ryan Miskella was run-out by Dean Lord but Matty Hernon was able to give the elder Perren some support.
At 93-3, Littleborough looked like they might have a platform to push on to a score approaching 200 but Norden’s two slow left armers bowled their combined allocations of 20 overs for just 40 runs, adding three wickets in the process and the acceleration never really came on a slow pitch.
Perren was ninth man out for a cautious 60 and Littleborough were all out from the last ball of the innings for 159.
Despite the difficult nature of the pitch, scores of this size are rarely enough on a small ground like Stag Park and it felt like 40/50 short at the break.
Things soon had a very different look to them, though, as Lewis Willman and Miskella had the Norden top three back in the dressing room with just 18 on the board.
It was game on but Norden had Zaidi at the crease and he found the partner he required in Nick Brierley.
Brierley hasn’t been at his best since his return from long-term injury but this was much more like his old self, solid in defense and quick to punish anything overpitched.
Their partnership of 98 looked to have set up the game but both were dismissed in pretty quick succession and when Alex Willis followed shortly afterwards, Boro felt they had a sniff once again.
Hamza Ali was bowling an impressive spell of slow left arm from the scorebox end and it required cool heads from Lee Crabtree and Sami Waheed to finish the job.
In the clash at Redbrook, Rochdale won the toss, Crompton batted first and soon found themselves 8 for 3.
No imperfections in the wicket could be blamed for Crompton’s predicament though. The visitors top found the pace, swing and accuracy of Dale’s substitute professional Matt Coles too much for them.
Coles had Denis Louis brilliantly caught by Jamie Roche with his first ball and then induced a false drive from Jake Hoosen who was taken at mid off by Dylan Poscha. Harry Dean tried to rally but but only Hasan Fazal and
Kain made anything like worthy contributions until a late flurry from
Muhammad Zuhaib enabled the visitors to stagger to 105 all out.
Rochdale then made short work of their chase. James Maurice-Scott, who had chipped in with threewickets in Crompton’s innings, smote a 41 ball half century, an innings characterised br a series of crisp drives and fierce cuts.
With Zimmy Khan he put on 83 for the first wicket and although he departed immediately after reaching 50 Khan ensured there wa no let up and Dale passed their target in under 17 overs.
Finally, Todmorden beat East Lancashire by eight wickets at Centre Vale.
East Lancs won the toss and batted first, making 196 all out from their 50 overs, Eli Smith best with the bat for them with 80.
But after Freddie Priestley (32) fell, Andrew Sutcliffe (81no) and Will Bosisto (71no) rattled off the remaining runs required to register an eight-wicket win.