CRICKET: Harper's sharper

THE battle between the sheer aggression of pace ace Vasbert Drakes and the subtle skills of his Caribbean counterpart Roger Harper was always going to be intriguing.

And so it proved at sun-soaked Centre Vale but it was the old head of Harper which won the day to share the league lead with Rishton. The veteran spin doctor grabbed 7-77 to put the anchors on the home side after Drakes had supplied some early fireworks with the bat.

And he then laid the foundations for Nelson's run chase with a polished 41 in the face of some explosive stuff from Drakes with the ball.

"It was a good performance but I was a little disappointed at getting out when I did because I should have seen the team home," said Harper.

"It was a pretty good track with not much help so it was just a case of being consistent and patient.

"Vasbert played some good shots but we knew, once we got rid of him, the others would struggle and that is exactly what happened. It was good to see some of the lads coming good as well especially against someone of the quality of Vasbert.

"He's a top bowler but our guys applied themselves and got the job done. They didn't get intimidated."

Batting first, the home side got off to a disastrous start as Trever Kegg snapped up two early wickets, courtesy of Michael Bradley catches, to dismiss David Whitehead and Richard Baigent as Todmorden slipped to 10-2. That brought Drakes to the wicket and he soon picked the run rate up. He and Alex Scholefield brought up Todmorden's 50 before the latter was run out when a straight drive from Drakes was deflected onto his stumps.

At 58-4 Todmorden could have withered in the scorching sunshine but Drakes and Mark Clayton engineered a recovery, putting on 51 for the fifth wicket.

Drakes played some stylish strokes on his way to a flamboyant half century but then lost his wicket in strange fashion. He cracked a delivery off Harper which struck Chris Willan at silly-mid-on and the ball looped up for Kegg to take the catch.

That was the cue for Harper to start working his magic.

The West Indian removed Stuart Priestley and Parker before finally wrapping up the Todmorden innings on 152 when he bowled John Barker one ball into the 52nd over.

Nelson made a steady start to their reply, but Drakes had Craig Walton caught behind with just nine on the board.

But Harper and Spencer got their heads down and survived some hostile bowling, punishing the occasional bad ball. One glorious four through the covers was followed by a dismissive pull through midwicket as Harper started to slip into top gear.

But just as he threatened to cut loose with another four over mid-wicket, he got a leading edge to Scholefield's next ball and Walters gleefully took the catch.

Spencer was caught behind in the next over as Drakes got one to take off and Nelson were suddenly in trouble at 76-3.

Paul Garaghty and Marcus Phelan were given a real working over in the face of some hostile stuff.

But Phelan in particular kept his nerve and started to play his shots.

He dominated a fourth wicket stand of 69 to take his side to the verge of victory, before finally holing out to Walters on the square leg boundary for 51 with just eight needed.

Garaghty and Jason Warwick were left to steer Nelson home with five overs to spare to collect maximum points.

Todmorden were docked one point for a slow over rate.

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