A WEEK last Wednesday Church U15's entertained Burnley at the West End Cricket Ground.

Much to the delight of all involved, it was a very warm and pleasant evening which has been lacking over the past few months.

Church won the toss and Sam Holt took early advantage with a stylish 27 off 22 balls as Church finished with a total of 89 for 7.

Burnley started the run chase in a positive manner with a couple of there top order batsmen getting into the 20's. M Higson came on and weathered the early storm with his impressive left arm pace bowling, finishing up with figures of 2 for 13 off 5 overs. At the half way stage of the Burnley innings it could have gone either way until a devastating bowling spell from 11-year-old Liam Brankin stole the show making a instant impression on proceedings picking up 5-20 including a hat-trick amid jubilation from his team-mates and the parents watching on.

Last Wednesday Haslingden where the visitors on an evening completely opposite to the Burnley game, it was a case of one extreme to the other in terms of the weather. Haslingden won the toss and elected to bat and got off to a flyer with openers North and Mcintosh putting 65 on for the first wicket. Haslingden's number 3 batsmen M.Marcoft dominated the Haslingden innings knocking up 54 not out off 28 balls helping his team reach a healthy 141 off 16 overs.

Church started the run chase in a bad way as we lost the early wicket of Brankin who was clean bowled by North. The rains then came but due to the fact we have only played one game up to now we decided to play through the constant downpours and deteriorating light.

Skipper Sam Holt was the victim of a stunning one handed diving catch by Lewis Mcintosh off the bowling of North for 17. The pick of the Church batsmen was the U11s captain Lloyd Aspin who hit 22 off 31 balls. After our 16 overs we managed 86 for 9 falling over 50 runs short. The pick of the Haslingden bowlers was North who finished up with figures of 5 for 10 off his 4 overs.