THERE was plenty of the carnival spirit in evidence at Bullough Park on Saturday as Millennium's Nadeem Ashraf took 122 not out off Manchester Road in the Accrington & District Cricket League.

Sharing a second wicket stand of 152 with Khizer Rehman, who scored 60, the century was Ashraf's second in the league. The last 17 overs produced 160 runs as Millennium totalled 215-4, the highest in the league this season. Manchester Road replied with 102, the legendary Simon Bray making a guest appearance, top scored with 22.

Attock remain top of the table after a last over victory over Whalley Road. Chasing 139 to win, Attock required 49 to win off the last six overs. They whittled that down to seven off the last over, five of which came off the final two balls. Khyber Shah hit 37 not out for the league leaders, gaining good support from Waqar Ahmed (27) and Arbrar Shah (23).

Liquat Khan had earlier claimed 6-38 in Whalley Road's knock of 138, for whom Andy Gardener hit 46. New Zealander Mick McCarrigan hit 31 for Haslingden Methodists, who finished seven runs short of Taverners score of 139-7.

There were good all-round performances by Methodists' Wes Haworth, who took 6-43 in 17 overs and then scored 20 and Taverners skipper Paul Fitzpatrick, who added 4-30 to his knock of 33.

Methodists will be without Craig Sudworth for several matches due to the injury he suffered against Millennium last week. Craig's twisted knee ligaments will confine his cricketing activities to the post match inquests in the bar for a while.

Also on the injured list at the moment are Millennium's strike bowlers Arif Hussain and Mazar Khan. Peel Park kept up their challenge at the top of the B Division with a five-run victory over St Phillip's at Highams. Mark Barnes hit 34 and Ian Jackson took 7-30 for Peel Park. The Blackburn side, missing the injured Terry Kenny, did well to get close to their opponents score, with Alistair Dormer and Lee Sculpher also unavailable. Taverners B also won at the expense of Everest. Antony Cox and David Swift took four wickets apiece for Taverners B and Jack Taylor hit 32 in a five wicket win. Huncoat have become the first team to enter next season's Veterans Competition which will be held to celebrate the league's 100th season of competition in season 2000.

Sunday's Harry Wood Cup-ties again fell victim to the weather. Both matches on Highams failed to start due to the condition of the outfields. These will now be played this Sunday. At Wilsons, Haslingden Methodists' imports again produced the goods. Mick McCarrigan hit 58 not out and Peter Kidd, on a rare appearance, took 4-8 in nine overs of medium pace bowling to give their side a 10 wicket victory over B Division St Phillips. Liquat Khan hit the second century in two days at Bullough Park as Attock defeated Taverners B by 52 runs in the other game played to a finish. Liquat's chanceless 100 not out was his first century for Attock. Waqar Ahmed hit 64 in a 40 run fourth wicket stand with his left handed partner.

There will be an Executive Meeting this Wednesday at the Great Eastern when the semi final draw will be made.

Results (Saturday) - A Division: Whalley Road 138, Attock 139-6; Haslingden Methodists 132-7, Taverners A 139-7; Manchester Road 102, Millennium 215-4.

B Division: Taverners B 109-5, Everest 105; St Phillip's 103, Peel Park 108.

Sunday: Attock 205-7, Taverners B 153; Haslingden Meth 99-0, St Phillip's 96.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.