SOMETIMES, no matter what you do it's never enough, and that was the case on Sunday when Radcliffe entertained Oldham at the Racecourse.

The home side never scored enough runs and paid the price - defeat.

"It could have gone either way," said Radcliffe skipper Graeme Simpson.

"We kept pegging them back but didn't get the wickets when we needed them, although to be honest we didn't deserve to win.

"We didn't score nearly enough runs - 160 is never enough from 50 overs - although the lower middle order did very well.

"With the ball we kept it fairly tight and maintained the pressure. We got four or five down and they needed about 60, although they had plenty of overs to play with. But to win we had to bowl them out and never looked like doing it."

Home openers Hayes and Cruse made a promising start, putting up 22 before Hayes was bowled by Smith for seven.

The good work was continued when pro Pasan Wanansinghe joined the Aussie and they added a further 35 before Cruse was adjudged lbw to Smith for 22.

The pro was joined by Simpson for the third wicket, but unfortunately the paid man lasted for just another three runs before he was caught by Kuhn off Smith for a disappointing 14.

It got worse when Simpson fell victim to Smith for just one, leaving the home side on 71-4.

Gorsi and Farnworth added a further 17 before Gorsi (15) became the second to go to a Smith lbw claim.

His place was taken by Toby McLean, and he and Farnworth restored hope with a stand of 30, before Farnworth was run out.

Cheetham took his place and together with McLean threatened to push the total on, until McLean was caught by Inkpen off Smith for a topscore of 29.

With his wicket went the Racecoursemen's brief resurrection, and with their 50 overs completed the total stood at 166, thanks mainly to 36 extras that eclipsed McLean's effort.

Chief destroyer for the visitors was Smith with a devastating 7-54.

Things didn't seem too bad when Oldham's first wicket went for just five, with McLean bowling opener Bloor.

Inkpen (5, bowled Wanansinghe), Kuhn (26, caught Cruse, bowled Cheetham) and Proctor (0, lbw Wanansinghe) soon followed, to leave the visitors on 47-4.

But just when Radcliffe thought they had the visitors on the ropes, Garnett went to the crease, and his dogged knock of 60 put the visitors back on track.

Along with McDonnell (20) and pro Martin Smith (29no) Oldham reached their target with five wickets and 8.2 overs to spare.

Radcliffe have a tough weekend ahead, hosting third-placed Rochdale on Saturday and then making the short journey to Pole Lane to take on fourth-placed Unsworth on Sunday.

"We've not played Rochdale (the away game was abandoned due to bad weather) and Unsworth are like us in a lot of respects, they blow hot and cold," said Simpson.

"With the side Unsworth have they should be winning every game, but they're not, they're a bit like Chelsea, in that they have all the stars but they're not playing as a team. I mean we've beaten them and Stand have and I'd hope to beat them again."