ST ANNES beat Chorley by 104 runs in the Vaux Samson Cup final at Vernon Road.

Unfortunately it was a Chorley second XI plus professional Josh Marquet, because Chorley were playing Morecambe in the Regional Knockout Cup.

Put in to bat, St Annes were reeling at 19-4 but then Russ Bradley and Duncan Whalley restored the balance with a 56 runs partnership for the fifth wicket before the latter departed for 26.

The sixth wicket partnership between Bradley and Sean Bickerdike produced 97 runs before the latter was bowled by Josh Marquet for 45.

His innings lasted 74 minutes and he hit one 6 and 5 fours.

Josh Marquet brought the St Annes innings to a close by taking four wickets for one run in five deliveries.

This included the wicket of Russ Bradley for 72.

He batted 142 minutes and hit 5 fours and 2 sixes off 116 balls.

Marquet finished with 7 for 10 from 8.5 overs.

In reply, Chorley found runs hard to accumulate and only opener Mark Richardson with 31 offered any real resistance.

For St Annes, Sean Bickerdike became the man of the match by taking 5 for 29 - not bad for an occasional medium pace bowler - while David Taylor took 4 for 7 from 8.2 overs.

At least the cup victory brought some consolation for losing their first league match of the season 24 hours earlier against Fleetwood.

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