GREG Mail is probably sick to the back teeth of having his surname overused in tedious puns.

But it is hard to describe his batting performance in the derby against Accrington yesterday as anything other than first class.

Take nothing away from impressive opener Craig Fergusson, who had a gutsy knock of 34 before being trapped leg before to young bowler James Hayhurst, but the Australian single-handedly helped Church cruise to victory in the derby at Thorneyholme Road.

And he believed the recent sunshine had a big part to play in his almost effortless century.

"The decent weather has improved the wickets and outfield and certainly makes batting easier," the 24-year-old said.

"I'm settling in okay now, and after we started pretty slowly, we've improved a bit over the last few weeks and have been picking up points.

"We were disappointed to go out of the cup on Saturday so we've no choice but to concentrate on the league now.

"I'm pleased with my own performance but, as long as we get the points it doesn't matter."

Mail admitted he was a tad sketchy on the history of the Accrington v Church derbies but the importance of the game was not lost on him as Church look to establish themselves as a top-half team.

"It's a bit different for me as I am new to the area, but it's always good to win the derby games," he said.

"I've noticed the whole league is very competitive though. Every game we've played has been competitive.

"But our guys were definitely up for the Accrington game."

And they would have been hopeful of picking up the points after the home side failed to pose a challenging total for Church.

Accrington would, however, have been encouraged by the progress of their young batsmen after professional and opener Andre Seymore was caught off the bowling of Nick Westwell for just17.

In the past, the demise of the professional has often spelt trouble for them, but Mohsin Ahmed and Adam Barnes, who have progressed through the ranks at Thorneyholme Road, offered Accrington plenty of hope. Both hit eight fours, with Ahmed being trapped leg before off Fergusson on 54 and Barnes unfortunately failing to reach what would have been a deserved half century.

They had set a precedent for the rest of the order but, in the end, Accrington's innings petered out -although Church did help their cause by giving away 20 extras.

Up stepped Mail to make light work of the target the West Enders had been set, undeterred by the spin of Seymore and Accrington captain Damian Clarke.

Typically, he secured his half century with one of an incredible 23 boundaries before a quick single prompted applause for his century.

After Fergusson had perished, Mail was ably assisted by Mark Aspin (20) then Phil Sykes (three not out) before he appropriately sealed the game with a sweetly struck four past point.

Meanwhile, East Lancs' South African pro Johann Louw scored 148 in 95 balls, including 11 fours and 10 sixes, enough to single-handedly beat Rishton, who only mustered 140.

Phil Bolton scored 66 in 105 balls as East Lancs made 288-8 and Darren Eccles scored 60 from 118 balls for Rishton.

Lowerhouse professional Ryan Harris received a standing ovation after his eight-wicket haul helped his side to victory over high-flying Colne.

The young Aussie had already helped the home side to a solid total of 262-9 with a battling 75, ably assisted by Jonathan Finch and Charlie Cottam, who both made their first Lancashire League half-centuries.

But Harris did the real damage with the ball, taking 8-59 - the best bowling figures in the league this season.

Martin Heap struck a six off the third from final ball as Nelson beat Burnley by just one wicket.

Burnley were all out for 167 before Nelson struggled in reply, Joe Scuderi top scoring on 41 before Heap's late heroics.

No Haslingden batsman scored more than Steve Dearden's 31, but the runs were shared about enough for them to pass Ramsbottom's 155-8 for the loss of six wickets.

Sub pro Ian Austin took three Ramsbottom wickets, Stuart Catterall collected four.

Martin Van Jaarsveld hit 57 of the 97 runs Enfield needed to beat Todmorden.

In the Todmorden innings of 96, Van Jaarsveld took four wickets for 10 runs off 10 overs, with Keith Barker also picking up four.