IT was a weekend to forget for Radcliffe as they slumped to an embarrassing defeat at Central Lancashire League strugglers Crompton on Saturday.

After skittling out their opposition for 130 on a poor wicket, the Racecourse side subsided to a paltry 50 in the face of a fine bowling display from home professional Saeed Anwar.

However, Radcliffe skipper Graeme Simpson was damning in his assessment of the pitch prepared for the game: "It was never a cricket pitch.

"The strip was wet through and very under-prepared. It hadn't been covered and was a lottery to play on."

Simpson continued: "We only had two bowlers who could stand up so we were limited in that respect and there was so much uneven bounce, it was definitely one to forget."

Crompton won the toss and their ability to master the conditions slightly better than the visitors helped them to set a reasonable total.

Only paid-man Pasan Wanansinghe and medium-pacer Stuart Kelley made any real impression with the ball as Crompton painstakingly compiled a challenging total.

Dawson (34) and Lee (17) were the mainstays but the extras column (24) worked against Simpson's men once again.

Wanansinghe finished with tidy figures of 4-37 in his 24 overs and Kelley returned 4-30 from 12.4 overs.

The reply got off to the worst possible start when Pakistani all-rounder Anwar trapped young opener Phil Hayes in front of his wickets.

Anwar then removed his opposite number, Wanansinghe, for just five runs and Radcliffe were teetering on 19-2. The prolific Bruce Cruse followed four runs later when he was bowled by a ball that shot along the floor and Toby McLean became Anwar's fourth victim with the score on 32.

From there, an inexperienced Radcliffe batting line-up never looked like overhauling the Crompton score and they limped to 50 before the final nail was struck into the coffin by Mel Whittle.

Only Cruse reached double figures for the Racecourse men and Anwar finished with match-winning figures of 8-22, Whittle grabbing 2-26.

On a positive note, Simpson said: "I thought Pasan and Stuart bowled very well in difficult conditions. We will forget about this result and look forward to the weekend. It's hard to call that a cricket pitch!"

On Sunday, Radcliffe have the perfect opportunity to put the defeat behind them when they host struggling Milnrow.

The second team also went down to defeat last week when Ashvak Gorsi's 68 wasn't enough in Radcliffe's final total of 168 all out, chasing 229-7.