Lancashire League: Rishton 123-7, Church 121

THE end justified the means in more ways than one as Rishton ground out their 'usual' derby victory over Church at Blackburn Road yesterday.

In this case it was the end from which Rishton's South African left-arm spinner Corrie Jordaan weaved his special brand of magic.

For it helped spark a spectacular Church batting collapse which ultimately cost them a game remarkable for NINE lbw decisions - several yards down the track.

And, while it was Jordaan who struck the winning runs around 6.30pm, there was no doubt that the destination of the points had been determined several hours earlier by a masterstroke of captaincy from Russell Whalley.

To a degree, the failure of his other amateur bowlers forced him to bring himself into the attack and swap ends for Jordaan.

But, whatever the reason, it turned the entire course of the game - a fact gallantly acknowledged by losing skipper Peter Gilrane.

It would have been easy for Gilrane to have grumbled about a fair proportion of six lbw decisions which went against his team.

But he didn't, looking at his own side's failings after the best possible start. "We keep on shooting ourselves in the foot when we're batting," said the Church captain.

"It was a great start at 65-0 but then we collapsed to 121 all out and that's not good enough.

"But I am proud of our bowlers for the way they stuck at it.

"And full credit to Russell. He made a great change, backed himself and it worked out for him."

Rishton looked as though they were going to face a daunting total as Alec Holt (38) and Trevor Hatch (26) impressively peppered the boundary in rattling up 50 runs from the first 10 overs.

But, after Jordaan had bowled an unproductive 0-14 spell from six overs came the decisive switch.

Whalley explained: "I felt I had to put myself on but I needed to bowl from the Blackburn Road end. Corrie said it was no problem to him to switch and he wasn't getting anything from that end anyway."

Jordaan, who proceeded to take 5-22 from his next 15 overs at the pavilion end, from where he usually operates, revealed the difference.

"There was more pace and turn bowling from the pavilion end. There was some turn at the other end but the ball didn't zip as much as I need it to do.

"Russell also bowled superbly and you need the amateurs to bowl well." A betting man would have lost a lot of money after a dozen overs or so of a game between two teams steadily restoring credibility after the disasters of last season.

Church were racing away, seeing off the Rishton attack with ease as the sun came out. But they slumped alarmingly to 95-8 against the wily Jordaan's spin and the movement gained by Whalley (5-42).

A brief bit of resistance at the end was polished off for a modest 121.

Not that Rishton's reply was too impressive after an early blitz by Stuart Roberts and to add injury to insult for Church, Mark Aspin limped off with a hamstring problem.

Church pro Neil McGarrell bowled a strange mixture of medium pace and left-arm spin and was not too successful but, nevertheless, wickets fell steadily to give the visitors hope.

Craig Fergusson, an outstanding prospect as a batsman-cum-off-spinner at just 16, bowled brilliantly but dropped a catch from Jimmy Bibby to cost his team a dozen runs which were important in the context of the game.

At 97-6 it was still in the melting pot but Paul Whalley (33 no) grafted superbly to steer Rishton to their seventh successive win over Church.

As for Jordaan, he nodded towards the pavilion and revealed: "This is my end from now on."

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