After losing the toss, Leigh Fourths were invited to bat and got off to a slow but steady start on a wicket that appeared to offer little to the batsmen.
Losing Stuart McLean for 14 with the score on 21, brought Michael Bond in to join Steve Waywell, and this pair added 52 for the second wicket before Waywell, who had found scoring difficult, was bowled for 20. Bond and Will Banner then took the score to 103 with Bond falling for a stylish though not entirely chanceless 46.
With other batsmen finding runs hard to come by, both Banner and Andrew Thomason showed good technique, but as time became more of an issue, skipper Edwards eventually declared after 51 overs with the score on 149 for 4, leaving Worsley to score at around 3.5 an over for victory.
Worsley found scoring no easier than their visitors had and were always behind the asking rate, due to the accuracy of Leigh's young bowling attack.
After losing two early wickets to Kieran Grundy, good partnerships by the home side saw the game firstly drifting towards a tame draw, and then marginally tilting in their favour, as they approached the last 5 overs needing just 23 runs with 6 wickets in hand.
However, three wickets in two overs, including two in three balls from Andrew Thomason and the removal of Worsley's top scorer for 46 by Tim Edwards, gave Leigh the real prospect of what had looked an unlikely victory. The 3 remaining overs were then played out cautiously, neither side wanting to give anything away at this stage with the margin under 20 runs, and a creditable draw was finally confirmed as Worsley ended on 136 for 7 from 41 overs.
Youth was again prominent for Leigh, accounting for all but the 6 overs bowled by Stuart McLean. Kieran Grundy, Tim Edwards and Andrew Thomason each finished with two wickets from two spells, and Will Banner took one from his six over spell. Alex Goodland's ground fielding was exemplary throughout, and he was also unlucky not to finish with a wicket. Matthew Hibbert once more put in a tidy performance behind the stumps. Credit should also go to Steve Waywell and Michael Bond for their constant encouragement and support of the youngsters in the field - an essential part of this team's development.
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