Church 79 East Lancs 172 - Peter White reports

IT might not be a long, hot summer but it certainly looks like being a long, hard one for Church who suffered in Saturday's sunshine as East Lancs cruised through to the second round of the Jennings Worsley Cup.

Having got out of jail to beat East Lancs in the league just three weeks earlier, Church this time found themselves on the wrong end of a great escape against opponents too good not to learn from earlier mistakes.

Whether Church can go on to learn from this traumatic experience remains to be seen.

The fact is that their dismal total of 79, chasing East Lancs' score of 172, flattered them after a second half which proved about as enjoyable as filling in a tax return.

Nothing should detract from the all-round qualities of East Lancs, who will challenge for honours on both league and cup fronts.

Church's aspirations will be rather more modest.

Their skipper Phil Sykes reflects their problems. A stylish and normally free-scoring batsman, he admitted: "We just can't get enough runs. We have players who have proved they can score but, personally, I haven't been in double figures since the first game of the season."

And, generously, he took nothing away from their conquerors. "We let them off the hook. They were 45 for five and 113 for eight but, after that, it was downhill all the way," he added.

"They shouldn't have got so many. But, to be fair, they are a very good side. East Lancs probably think they will win the league and they might well do just that.

"As for us, well the league table doesn't lie."

East Lancs might just be a good cup bet too.

Their skipper Mark Lomas saw his lower order batsmen turn the screw after Church's best period of the game and then, simply, put Plan B into operation.

"We felt at the interval that if we could bowl a good first 10 overs and perhaps pick up a couple of wickets, then we would be in a winning position," he said.

Thanks to an excellent response from his attack, that is exactly how it proved.

There were three crucial periods in the game and East Lancs proved superior in all.

After making an explosive start, with 17 runs from the first two overs, the Blackburn side slumped to 45 for five.

Church professional Brendan Creevey and Mark Aspin both bowled an excellent and lengthy opening spell. But the two Phils, Bolton and Mercer, turned things round with a sixth-wicket stand of 59. Another slump followed but again East Lancs found a couple of heroes in Nas Iqbal and Paul Kelly who shared a remarkable stand of 58 for the ninth wicket.

They scored quickly too which was in stark contrast to what followed after tea.

It was the 11th over before runs scored passed overs bowled and, even then, Church were 13 for three and the contest looked finished.

Iqbal and professional Billy Stelling seemed virtually unplayable and the home team had stumbled to 43 for eight in the 33rd painstaking over.

Nicky Westwell and Maboob Hussain brought a little light relief with some lusty blows at the end but East Lancs had long since been home and dry.

A special mention must go to their veteran bowler Ian Haworth with a superb return of 5-20.

His haul included Creevey, whose innings was notable only for the fact that he became Haworth's 500th senior league and cup victim.

The ball with which he passed that milestone was presented to him by the umpires afterwards.

No doubt it was still in pristine condition.

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