ATTOCK suffered a setback in their quest for the Accrington and District League A Division, losing to Whalley Road by three wickets at King George's.

After restricting the league leaders to 140-9, an opening partnership of 73 between Andy Gardener (44) and John Dewhurst (17) laid the foundations for a victory achieved in the last over.

Chris Cavanagh had earlier taken 4-31, including two wickets with successive deliveries for Whalley Road after Liquat Khan had scored his third league half century of the season for Attock.

Millennium closed the gap to four points with a six-wicket victory over basement club Manchester Road. Nadeem Ashraf closed in on the league batting record with another half century for Millennium.

Nine-man Taverners A overcame a shortage of players to pass Haslingden Methodists score of 152-9 with four wickets down. Taverners skipper Paul Fitzpatrick took four wickets in six balls, including a hat trick, to gain his third five wicket haul of the campaign.

He then steered his team home, scoring 35 not out, gaining good support from ever reliable John Finn (39), John Fowler (24) and Akhtar (Botham) Hussain who hit 18 not out.

Jeff Stanton, with 37, and Craig Sudworth, who scored 36 not out, had earlier helped Methodists to their first batting bonus point of the season. Peel Park joined Taverners B at the top of B Division after a 71 run win over a depleted St Philip's side at Highams. Mark Barnes hit 26 for Peel Park and Terry Kenny bowled a marathon spell for the Blackburn side, taking 7-61. Ian Jackson and Tony Teasdale took four wickets apiece as St Phillip's were dismissed for 56.

Taverners B had a seven wicket win over Everest at Bullough Park. Set a modest target of 134, Taverners knocked the runs off in 16.5 overs, Jack Taylor hitting five consecutive fours off Ikhlaq Hussain in his innings of 45, Azar Khan (34) and stand in skipper Mark Maden (18no) also chipping in. This Sunday sees the eagerly awaited Harry Wood Cup final between Attock and Taverners A at Accrington Cricket Club. The match will start at 2pm and the umpires will be Brian Rutter and Jim McLean.

Taverners secretary Bill Swift is hoping that many of Taverners' former players of the past 30 years will attend the game.

The league executive will meet at the Great Eastern this Wednesday at 8pm.

Results: A Division: Attock 140-9 (L Khan 52, M Riaz 22, C Cavanagh 4-31, S Sipocz 2-23), Whalley Road 141-7 (A Gardener 44, S Sipocz 23, K Shah 2-8, A Shah 2-19), Whalley Road won by 3 wickets; Taverners A 153-4 (J Finn 39, O Fitzpatrick 35no, W Haworth 3-47, C Sudworth 1-30), Haslingden Methodists 152-9 (J Stanton 37, C Sudworth 36no, P Fitzpatrick 5-16, M Swift 2-52), Taverners A won by 6 wickets;

Millennium 126-4 (N Ashraf 58), Manchester Road 125, Millennium won by 6 wickets.

B Division: Everest 133-8 (S Shah 38, N Hussain 30, D Swift 4-48, M Maden 2-28), Taverners B 135-3 (J Taylor 45, A Khan 34, I Hussain 1-24, S Hussain 1-26), Taverners B won by 7 wickets; Peel Park 127 (M Barnes 26, D Lord 19, T Kenny 7-61, P Church 3-35), St Phillip's 56 (A Dormer 14, T Kenny 10, T Teasdale 4-23, I Jackson 4-32), Peel Park won by 71 runs.

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