A HUGE, noisy crowd watched a sensational game on Sunday when Radcliffe stormed into the Wood Cup final with a brilliant win over Walsden.

Radcliffe had won the toss and put Walsden in to bat. A very slow start by Walsden put them in danger as tight bowling from Radcliffe, notably man-of-the-match Shah, kept their score to a concerning low.

After 29 overs two quick wickets were taken, opener Barker was finally out, stumped by Macauley off Kennedy's bowling. Then South African professional, Don Kruis, came in to bat, but he failed to capitalise at the start until he noticed that Walsden were in desperate need of a few runs, so the big shots came out.

Kruis reached his 50 off just 51 balls and by now Walsden were aiming for 200 as they had doubled their score in the last five overs.

Holt eventually bowled Kruis for 61 and Walsden finally finished on 185-7, which was a total destined to make the match a good one.

Notably, Sadar Shah had excellent figures of ten overs six maidens for eight runs, but failed to get a wicket, which he deserved.

After a long tea break, Radcliffe got off to a good start with Heaton and Keegan taking to the crease. Heaton was dismissed for 16, caught by Walsden's professional. David Jones joined the attack and got off to a good start by hitting some excellent fours. Keegan was batting steadily until he was caught and bowled by Dewhurst for 35. Jones carried on his excellent batting with Cruse, eventually reaching his 50 and then was caught out for 65.

By this time, Radcliffe were in a very commanding position and Walsden were getting worried, so they brought their South African back on.

Kruis didn't make an impact and Dearden was punishing him all over the ground. Even the bouncers didn't harm the Radcliffe professional as he hooked one for six.

Things were looking bleak for Walsden until a streaker, wrapped in a Walsden flag, came onto the pitch in a bid to boost the team morale.

The streaker had no effect on Walsden's bowling and Radcliffe marched to victory as Dearden's 31 off just 14 balls put them through to the final at Heywood against last season's champions, Middleton.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Radcliffe hammered a poor Crompton side.

None of the Crompton players seemed to make an impact on the game as excellent bowling from Radcliffe bowled Crompton out for just 74, with excellent figures for Shah, who was hit for 13 runs off 14 overs, gaining three wickets, and Holt achieving excellent figures of five for 20 off seven overs.

After the interval, Radcliffe got off to a bad start as Heaton was dismissed for one, but another excellent partnership by Keegan and Jones saw Radcliffe cruise to victory after just ten overs.

Keegan claimed 25 runs off just 21 balls and Jones 43 off just 34 balls, put Radcliffe's morale high for Sunday. They won the game in magnificent form.