Rammy undone by title-chasing rivals Burnley
LOWERHOUSE maintained their lead at the of Division 1 after a four-wicket win at home to Darwen.
The visitors won the toss and opted to take first knock, putting on 224 all out from their 50 overs.
Highlight of the innings was undoubtedly Ammer Mirza’s 111. Scott Friend provided strong support with 59 while Ruan De Swardt claimed a fivewicket haul with 5-63.
Lowerhouse looked in some trouble at 13-3 until Jack Simm steadied the ship with 91 from 105 deliveries. Patrick Martin stuck around for a patient 24 from 72 balls, allowing Chris Bleazard to follow Simm’s lead and strike 59 from 48 deliveries, Lowerhouse reaching their target after 48 overs having lost six wickets.
Burnley kept up the pressure on the leaders with victory on the road at Ramsbottom.
The home side had won the toss and elected to bat, but they found the Acre Bottom surface slow going.
Tom Parton hit 85 from 143 deliveries while Ben Pearson took 91 balls to make 42.
Senuran Muthusamy opened up, hitting 46 off 34 balls, but at the end of their 50 overs, Ramsbottom’s total of 203-6 looked a tough one to defend in such batting-friendly conditions.
Ockert Erasmus’ unbeaten 94 – from 122 deliveries – and M Shah’s 58 from 44 saw Burnley to vistory in the 48th over.
Littleborough moved up to third after they beat Haslingden by four wickets at Bentgate. Boro skipper Clinton Perren lost the toss and it was no surprise when the home side elected to bat on a belter of a track.
Ryan Miskella and Lewis Willman made a great start as the home side lost their first wicket in the third over when Miskella bagged Connor Reed for a duck care of a sharp slip catch by Perren senior 3/1.
Sadly for the visitors,
Willman broke down in his third over and limped off the field to be replaced by a very nervous but very willing Matty Fitton who was there watching.
This brought young Ben Williamson into the attack who struggled to find his length early on and was punished to the boundary by both Matt Griffin and Rudi Second. However, the youngster showed great courage to entice an edge off Griffin who was caught at cover by Bryce Street to leave the home side 39/2.
Williamson was replaced by Street who again turned in a magnificent spell for his team and he struck early on in his spell as he had Leighton Friend snaffled at slip by Perren senior for his second catch of the game.
With the last ball before drinks, Street accounted for Sean Hunsley to a juggling catch by Matt Hernon behind the sticks to leave the home side in a spot of bother at 77/4 at the halfway stage.
However, the Boro fielding was sloppy with misfields and over throws happening too regularly.
Professional Second was looking ominous with the bat as he passed fifty but played a second class shot and gloved a catch to Hernon whilst attempting to sweep off Hamza Ali and Haslingden had lost half their team one short of a hundred.
Miskella had bowled accurately throughout the innings to finish with a tidy 1/32 off 13 overs but it was his bowling pals Ali and Street who led the Boro in their best part of the game as they turned 99/5 into 113/8.
The hapless Joe Sipocz tried to slog Ali but was snaffled by Street at mid wicket to fall for a 16-ball duck.
Then Matthew Sudworth fell for 18 to give Perren senior his third catch of the game, this time off Street.
Gary Sudworth went for a duck to well judged catch by Zac Perren off Ali to leave the score on 113/8 with 10 overs left. Oliver Cameron (34no) dug in and, with Oliver Lord (18no), helped amass 56 valuable runs in the last ten overs with only one run out – Joe Hayton – to show for Boro’s efforts in those closing overs. Haslingden closed on 169-9 from their 50 overs.
In the absence of Tom Pye, 15-year-old Louis Russell and Zac Perren opened the innings in glorious sunshine against the home opening attack in the shape of Lord and Cameron.
They looked in no trouble at all but failed to pick up the singles and rotate the strike as they crawled to 38 off 20 overs.
Russell was first to go in bizarre fashion as he turned blind going for a third run after Sipocz launched a throw from near the boundary that hit the wickets on the full at the non-striker’s end with Russell turning for a third run, 42/1.
As is always the case in cricket when there has not been a wicket for a while two come at once and this was no exception as Perren junior played all round a straight one from Sudworth and was plumb in front as the second wicket fell with no addition to the score.
Miskella and Street must have been chomping at the bit to bat on this wicket after toiling away bowling on it all afternoon. However, Miskella will be kicking himself as he missed a straight full toss and missed out falling for 8 to leave the visitors 71/3.
Street and Hernon were in no mood to miss out on such a great opportunity. Red hot day, fast outfield, friendly bowling attack, it doesn’t get much better if you are a batsman.
Street coasted to 42 off just 41 balls as he was in no mood to let the bowlers settle in such batsmen friendly conditions and was unlucky to be given out caught behind when he appeared to hit the ground, Reed taking the catch from Sudworth’s delivery.
They put on 62 for the fourth wicket as they took the score to 133 with the required run rate never getting above five an over.
Hernon was quite majestic playing a typical aggressive innings as he strolled to 45 off 64 balls in an innings that included five boundaries and a maximum and could consider himself unlucky as he was bowled off his pad going for a slog sweep with just 20 needed for victory.
Chris Schofield hit 16 before Williamson and skipper Perren put on the required 13 runs for victory with five balls remaining.
Clitheroe enjoyed a comfortable 132-run victory at Walsden having made the most of winning the toss and batting first.
They made 245-8 from their 50 overs, Dilshan Munaweera, 67 from 90 balls, and Charlie Dewhurst, 74 from 91, inflicting most damage.
Jamie Shackleton was best with the ball for Walsden, claiming 4-45 from 12 overs.
But Walsden never really got going with the bat, Joe Gale top-scoring with 34, the middle and tail end all falling cheaply as the home side was dismissed for 113.
Norden enjoyed an excellent weekend, with wins over local rivals Rochdale in the league and Ormskirk in the LCF Knockout.
Saturday saw Stag Park host the first derby of the season as previously unbeaten Rochdale made the short trip.
A beautiful day and a flat looking surface made Greg Butterworth’s decision to bowl first more difficult than it usually is at this ground, but brother Scott took the early wicket of Rochdale professional Henry Hunt, caught at point failing to fully commit to a cut shot.
Zimmy Khan, newly arrived at the ground having had his shopping trip interrupted when told the game was on Saturday not Sunday, joined Ali Muzaffar and Muzaffar in particular began to take the attack to the Norden bowlers. The 4-pronged home bowling attack was starting to look a little threadbare as the experienced Rochdale pair combined effectively.
Khan was measured and Muzaffar aggressive, as he looked to clear the front leg and find the short Stag Park boundaries. Butterworth was struggling for options as the partnership crept up towards 150 and he turned to Oli Holt, which proved to be an inspired decision.
In his third over, the medium pacer removed both set batters and completely changed the course of the game. First Khan was bowled through the gate, and then Muzaffar, rather than consolidating after the loss of a wicket, tried to clear longon but could only find the safe hands of Lukas Debnam.
All of a sudden, from threatening a total of up around 300, Rochdale had to set their sights lower and rebuild. Andy Dawson, dropped on 7 by Josh Tolley at cover, played nicely for a run-a-ball 40, but until a couple of late boundaries from Jack Duffy, the rest of Rochdale’s middle order were unable to play as fluently. Scott Butterworth took a couple of wickets late on to finish with three, and Rochdale closed on 247 for 6, perhaps a shade over par but certainly less than where they had threatened to be at half way.
Norden’s recent struggles at the top of the order were not to be repeated as Josh Tolley and Alex Willis put on 62 for the opening wicket.
Steve Oddy was his usual accurate self, though, and the run rate was starting to creep up when Willis was trapped in front by Khan.
Ashar Zaidi was moved up to number three and he and Tolley began to set the foundations for yet another big partnership between Norden’s two main men.
Like Norden, Rochdale looked a bowler short, but their change bowlers failed to have the impact Holt had done earlier and the batters were able to target Jacob Pauline, Hunt and Muzaffar, whose combined 12.2 overs went for 105 runs.
Tolley backed up his century from last week with another here, surviving one scare as Michael Harling dropped a straightforward chance at mid-on when the game may still have been in the balance, and Zaidi put his foot down to race to an unbeaten 91 off just 72 balls.
The partnership finished unbroken on 186 and Norden took 10 points, with the 9 wicket margin of victory failing to tell the full story of an excellent game.
Norden were definite underdogs when they took the long trip to Ormskirk on Sunday afternoon in the 1st round of the LCF Knockout. The hosts were losing finalists last year and knocked Norden out of this competition in 2021.
Ormskirk won the toss and elected to bat, but Norden have a different look to their new-ball attack this year and the fast starts offered to opponents so often last season, are much harder to come by this. Scott Butterworth has bowled with good rhythm from the first game and Lukas Debnam has provided excellent support, with his just rewards in the wicket column surely not too far away.
Butterworth again got the first breakthrough by removing the dangerous Alex Rankin. Missing Oli Holt from Saturday’s team, Josh Tolley was the
Stags 5th bowler and Greg Butterworth introduced him early to good effect. He dismissed George Politis and Calum Turner either side of Zaidi cleaning up Lancashire wicketkeeper George Lavelle. 42 without loss had become 58 for 4 and Norden were in charge of the game.
This never really changed from that point as wickets comtinued to fall. Butterworth, Tolley and Zaidi all finished with 3 as Ormskirk limped to 104 all out.
Early wickets were needed if Ormskirk were to stand a chance, but they didn’t materealise as Tolley and Willis again got off to a solid start. Both fell with the score in the 40’s but Zaidi and Haris Hussain made sure there was no real wobble. Hussain has struggled at the start of his Norden career, but he showed flashes of his undoubted ability here against a strong attack, hitting 3 fours and a six in his 20. Norden reached their target inside 20 overs for an unexpectedly comfortable win and a place in round 2 away to Morecambe on the 11th of June.
Victory for the 2nds at Redbrook meant it was a perfect weekend for Norden. Mo Waheed took 5 wickets as Rochdale were bowled out for 139 and Hashum Malik was at his destructive best, hitting 68 as Norden chased the runs down easily for the loss of just 3 wickets.