Cricket: Mixed fortunes for local sides

On Saturday Lowerhouse were the visitors to Acre Bottom in the LANCASHIRE LEAGUE and returned home with a twelve point haul for their efforts.

It was a dramatic middle order collapse that cost the Rams after good work from Tommy Read and Brian Taylor had steadied the ship after a disastrous start.

Both opener Garfield Moreton and Mark Price were back in the pavilion with the score on ten before Read (55) and skipper Taylor (40) showed the full array of their strokes with a fourth wicket partnership of 72.

When Read departed the home side's total stood on 115 for 4 and a more than respectable total looked on the cards.

But a dramatic collapse in which they lost four wickets without troubling the scorers saw them slide to 129 all out with seven overs remaining.

The visitors reply was soon in trouble as the Rams' Aussie paceman Matthew Pascoe put in a superb opening spell to concede only three runs from the first six overs.

Both openers Stan Heaton and Martin Van Jaarsveld fell to the Ramsbottom professional and at 21 for 2 it looked as though the home side might make a fist of it.

But they reckoned without Lowerhouse skipper Nicky Hope who settled the visitors' nerves with a sterling 30 before succumbing to a fine catch from Richard Hevingham.

Unfortunately for the Rams that was the cue for a matchwinning unbroken stand of 73 between Chris Bleazard and Simon Payne who confidently steered Lowerhouse home with 11 balls to spare. The pacey Pascoe was again in top form with the ball 24 hours later but again it wasn't to be for the Rams who went down to Enfield at Dill Hall Lane.

The talented Queenslander picked up figures of 5 for 51 as Enfield's early order merchants learned just what a useful acquisition he will be for the Rams this season.

However, former Lancashire man Bernard Reidy had other ideas and, coming in at number eight, he hit a well-timed unbeaten 53 as the home side recovered well to finish on 192 for 9.

Skipper Brian Taylor and wicketkeeper Richard Hevingham gave Rams hope in the run chase with scores of 40 and 32 respectively but there was insufficient support from the rest of their teammates and the valley side finished 16 runs short of their target on 176 for 9. A SUPERB third wicket partnership of 131 from Gary Chadwick and Jimmy Horrox was the highlight of Greenmount's BOLTON LEAGUE clash at Westhoughton on Saturday.

Horrox hit seven fours and three sixes in his 76 while his skipper chipped in with eight fours and two sixes for 63 as the Brandlesholme Road side set a target of 207 for 9.

In reply, the current Lancashire Knockout holders were soon on the back foot with professional Craig Norris taking three vital early wickets and paceman Mark Stewart dismissing the dangerous Patrick Holder in his first over.

The Greenmount paid man (pictured) finished with figures of 6 for 52 but frustratingly the villagers couldn't shift professional Ranjit Bhanabai and Mike Bentham to clinch the victory they deserved. IT was a miserable Bank Holiday for Radcliffe Cricket Club as they slumped to a double defeat in the CENTRAL LANCASHIRE LEAGUE.

Saturday's match at home to Milnrow was the closer of the two with the Racecoursemen posting 154 for 8 from their 48 overs.

Steve Holt was the star of the show blasting an unbeaten 50, ably supported by Graham Simpson who made 32 before falling lbw to Fitton.

New-boy Nick Kennedy weighed in with 21 to help push the total further as the home side struggled to cope with the bowling of four-wicket star Abrahams.

Professional Steve Dearden took all seven Radcliffe wickets in reply but was still on the losing side as Milnrow reached their target with three wickets in hand.

The following day, the sun was the only thing to dazzle as Radcliffe's batsmen were skittled out for an embarrassing 83, chasing Crompton's 165-9.

Only Richard Heaton (33) and John MacAuley (11) made double figures.

Dearden was again one of the stars with the ball, taking four wickets for 30 runs. He was, however, surpassed by Steve Holt who bagged five for 68.

STAND travelled to Middleton on Saturday and got off to an ideal start when Chris Warren had Middleton professional Peiris caught by Jeff Clements.

At 9 for 1, however, the success proved something of a false dawn as 200 runs flowed freely before the next wicket fell. A tremendous catch on the boundary by Tim Ritchie, some tight bowling from Dave Foreman and a last ball second wicket for Chris Warren brought some crumbs of comfort for Stand as Middleton closed on 298 for 4.

The Hamilton Road side began steadily in reply reaching 34 without loss before the introduction of left arm spinners Wolstenholme and Tomlinson led to some injudicious shots.

Teenagers Ritchie and Warren halted the slide with sound defence in a partnership of 28.

And after their departure the tail hung with determination to deny Middleton the extra bonus point.

Stand entertained Heywood at Hamilton Road on Sunday and, batting first, the home side maintained a steady run rate but lost wickets regularly.

Two needless run-outs added to their troubles despite sound, aggressive hitting from Mark Hutchinson (35) who fell to a superb leaping catch.

A nicely built innings from professional Thushara Sampath (24), Salim Ahmed (19) and Chris Warren (17) threatened to give Stand the initiative but after their departure the tail folded as they slumped from 126 for 6 to 132 all out.

Heywood achieved their total with few alarms and the Stand cause wasn't helped by dropping the two top scorers early in their innings.

UNSWORTH travelled to Werneth but were left still searching for an opening victory for the season after a crushing defeat.

Werneth won the toss, elected to bat and made the Parr Lane side suffer in the sun as opener Paul Entwistle blasted an unbeaten 109 while West Indian professional Hinds chipped in with an innings of 56 that contained nine fours. As an inadequate bowling display from Unsworth was severely punished the home side finished on 241 for 5.

Their batting proved equally ineffective as four players failed to trouble the scorer and only three made it to double figures.

John Harrison (24) returning captain Mark Manley (36) and David Joynson (12) provided the only substantial resistance as the Unsworth innings faded to 123 all out.

BURY'S trip to Whalley Range in the MANCHESTER ASSOCIATION yielded them only three points despite a useful start.

The Sports Club side won the toss and elected to bat and when openers James Stone and Owen Steverson put on 87 for the first wicket things looked as bright as the spring weather.

However it was all downhill from there and they were eventually dismissed for 141 in the 50th over.

Whalley Range lost opener Demeza early who retired hurt, but Pervais then took control cracking a superb, unbeaten 88 after being extremely fortunate to survive a confident stumping appeal when on 23.

Andy Metcalfe bowled a tidy opening spell and Steverson took two wickets in his third over to give Bury hope but it was insufficient as Range reached the target with seven wickets and 12 overs to spare.

BROOKSBOTTOMS travelled to Bolton to take on Deane & Derby but returned to Summerseat defeated.

The total of 126 for 9 proved insufficient despite pushing the home side all the way with Steve Colter recording figures of 3 for 17 and Eddie Hoyle, 4 for 38.

Deane & Derby made it to their target with their final pair at the crease. PRESTWICH'S H-team Chris Humphreys and Colin Higginson were responsible for their LANCASHIRE COUNTY LEAGUE triumph at Woodhouses.

New-boy Humphreys went to the wrong ground then ran out of petrol but he must have filled up with high-octane stuff for when he did arrive he had all guns blazing!

A home total of 60 for 2 became 70 for 7 as Humphreys claimed 5 for 9 in the space of 28 balls.

Dave Sandiford took the final three wickets for only four runs to leave Woodhouses 91 all out.

It still needed the second half of the H-team to save the day for as the pitch crumbled the wickets tumbled and despite 36 from pro Craig Duxbury the game looked lost at 55 for 7.

Higginson, promoted up the order, matched his fine display of the previous week with Billy Taylor but when the latter was dismissed Prestwich still needed 13 to win with only two wickets left.

Higginson then found another determined ally in Andy Bradley and together they battled bravely for 30 more minutes and squeezed Prestwich home.

WOODBANK'S Nigel Holder and Phil Lowthian gave their side a bright start to the new campaign with an opening partnership of 57.

However the Kenyons' side's hopes took a nosedive when professional Neil Ridehaugh was dismissed only for a flurry of boundaries from Holder to revive their innings until he was the victim of a very dubious lbw decision.

Andy Coles with 31 not out and new boy David McCheyne 10 not out took the home side's total to a respectable 194.

It was to no avail though, as the Woodbank bowling lacked penetration and although the run rate rose to nine per over at one stage, King and Stringer saw Longsight home to a deserved win in the final over. WALSHAW are among the early pacesetters in the BOLTON ASSOCIATION after two fine results at the weekend.

On Saturday superb bowling displays from Brett Collins and Mark Greenhalgh put the skids under Astley & Tyldesley at Sycamore Road.

Collins proved unplayable with figures of 6 for 12 while Greenhalgh was equally stingy ending with 1 for 1 from six overs.

With the score at 10 for 5 it was something of a surprise that the visitors crawled to 102.

In reply professional Jon Fielding was the top scorer with an unbeaten 49 as the local side cruised to a seven wicket triumph.

On Sunday, at Standish, Collins proved he's just as useful with the bat finishing unbeaten on 72 as, aided by a useful 53 from Mike Goddard, Walshaw passed the home side's 185 total for the loss of five wickets with two overs to spare.

Standish pro Arindum Sarkar's unbeaten ton made up the bulk of the home side's total.

Local rivals ELTON had to settle for a couple of draws from their two matches. They began the weekend at Atherton and despite the bowling of Aussie professional Greg Dimery (6 for 86) couldn't stop their hosts running up a total of 206 for 8 as Phil West blasted the league's first ton of the season.

Atherton skipper Steve Walsh proved a thorn in the side of the Leigh Lane club taking four wickets for 17 off 16 overs but his opposite number John Bushell saved the day for Elton with a stubborn knock of 61.

Twenty-four hours later they entertained Adlington and the return of paceman Gareth Williams paid off as he helped himself to six wickets as the visitors ran up 184 for 7.

However it proved too high a total for the Bury side who ended on 128 for 9 despite a half century from pro Dimery.

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