WITH the luxury of two games at the weekend Radcliffe were able to climb one place up the CLL rankings with two four-points victories.

"It was an excellent weekend with two good wins," said captain Graeme Simpson.

"Sunday we came up against some unbelievable umpiring decisions, but to be fair Stand posted 161 which, on that wicket, was not easy.

"It was always going to be a difficult target to overhaul and we were never flying past it.

"They bowled well and we had to take it steady, with Richard Farnworth batting well. A couple of boundaries at the right time helped to relieve the pressure and we eventually did it."

A five point victory was anticipated on Sunday against neighbours Stand at the Racecourse, anchored as they are to the bottom of the league. But it wasn't that straight forward

The visitors batted first and soon found themselves on 58-4, with bowlers Hayes, Wanansinghe and Kelley on form.

Fergusson (45) and Wright (43) chipped away, but with them out of the way it was always going to be difficult, however, they managed to reach 161-9, with Radcliffe unable to bowl them out. Hayes led the bowling with 5-43, closely followed by Wanansinghe with 3-52.

The chase was steady and it needed to be. Farnworth top-scored with 35 not out, as 163 was reached for the loss of five wickets with 2.1 overs to spare.

The previous day's trip to Todmorden Road to take on fourth-placed Walsden saw Radcliffe bat first.

Opener Hayes was the first victim (6) but was then replaced by pro Wanansinghe who, together with opener Cruse put on a second wicket knock of 100 to get the innings off to a fine start.

Wanansinghe went for 31, succeeded by skipper Simpson, who in tandem with his Australian brother-in-law added a further 57 to take the score to 174.

Farnworth came and went with Gorsi taking his place and he and Cruse added a further 38 to take the score to 215-5, with Cruse going for 100 - his second successive century.

By then the damage had been done and Radcliffe eventually finished on 225-7, setting the home side a sizeable target.

At 2-4 Walsden were struggling until pro Shaun Marsh, the West Australia left-hand top order batsmen got to the crease.

His top score of 81 helped the total along to 114 before he was caught lbw by opposite number Wanansinghe.

A seventh wicket stand of 45 between Butcher and Clayton took the reply to 160, but from there it was all down hill and Walsden finished on 185-8. Phil Hayes led the bowling with 4-37.

This Saturday Radcliffe travel to Woodhouse Lane to tackle table-toppers Norden, before returning to the Racecourse on Sunday for the visit of second-from-bottom Ashton.

"Get the pro out and you're there, it really is as simple as that against Norden," said Simpson.

"He's a nice guy and a very good player and umpires like to see him bat, so it's never easy getting him out.

"But on a relatively small ground like Norden you would hope to be able to chase whatever is posted

"Ashton may be next to bottom but they've had some strange results recently, scoring over 300 against Werneth.

"But we'll be back ourselves to win without going into the game too blase."

Radcliffe hope to have bowlers Toby McLean and Steve Cheetham back from injury for this weekend's fixtures, with McLean due to play for Lancashire's 2nd XI against Northamptonshire next week.