THEY'VE called themselves the Sharks and Badgers but it was a Salmon who did the damage against Great Eastern.

For Oswaldtwistle Sharks and Badgers kept up their winning run in the Accrington Midweek League thanks to hard-hitting Gary Salmon.

The opener smashed an unbeaten 70, which included 12 fours, and was surely only denied a century because the overs ran out.

League rules mean each team of eight players bowl 14 overs -- with no player allowed to bowl more than two overs each.

Sharks recovered from losing Lee Boyer for one in the third over after he was caught behind by Andy Eland off a rising ball from Steve Crawshaw.

Salmon was joined by Mark Phillipson and he soon got his eye in and took advantage of some wayward Eastern bowling and helped himself to eight boundaries.

He rattled up 38 quick runs before being cleaned bowled by Mohammed Tafel with a delivery that had an extra bit of pace.

Vernon Woods joined the fray and together with Salmon put on 72 runs in little over five overs -- although his contribution was only 11 runs.

It was always going to be an up hill task for Great Eastern, which was made even worse when Anthony Hatch dispatched Alistair Dowber for six when he was caught by Roger Watson at long on. Lee Bowyer then claimed a second wicket when Phillipson caught Saf Ali at mid on for three.

The wickets kept on tumbling at regular intervals and Watson pulled off a magnificent diving catch to dismiss Tafel off Woods.

Andy Watson was Eastern's best batsman but after a neat 14 he was next to go, cleaned bowled by Phillipson. Andy Eland also looked comfortable with a bat in his hand and cracked away a couple of boundaries before falling victim to Crawshaw.

Simon Crawshaw got himself run out and Eastern innings came to an end with Watson cleaned bowled Ken Sharples with a wicked spinning delivery.

OSWALDTWISTLE

SHARKS AND BADGERS

G Salmon not out...70

L Boyer c Eland b Crawshaw...1

M Phillipson b Tafel...38

V Woods not out...11

Extras...7

Total...127-2

Bowling: S Crawshaw 2-0-3-1; M Tafel 2-0-16-1; S Ali 2-0-4-0; D Brankin 2-0-31-0; A Dowber 2-0-21-0; K Sharples 2-0-30-0; A Watson 2-0-16-0

GREAT EASTERN

A Dowber c Watson b Hatch...6

S Ali c Phillipson b Boyer...3

M Tafel c Watson b Woods...0

A Watson b Phillipson...13

A Eland b Crawshaw...12

S Crawshaw run out...7

D Brankin not out...1

K Sharples b Watson...1

Extras...4

Total...47

Bowling: T Hatch 1-0-6-1; L Boyer 2-0-12-1; V Woods 2-0-4-1; M Phillipson 1-0-5-1; D Crawshaw 2-0-10-1; R Watson 1--0-1-1