ONLY a cynic would suggest that lowly Rawtenstall might be glad of two points from the day's only 'no result' fixture.

But on a day when wooden spoon rivals Accrington earned a shock result at Church, the home side, humiliated 24 hours earlier, might even have run their fiercest local rivals close had not the sixth stoppage for rain ruled out the 15 deliveries this match finished short of a quorum.

That would have been rough justice on Bacup, who largely outplayed their neighbours for most of the game, but there was sufficient spirit in a defiant blitz from home pro Guy Whittall, along with signs of promise in his colleagues' fighting display in the field, to suggest that while the glory days may be some way from returning to Bacup Road, brighter times may be around the corner.

With Roger Harper in three figures and 10 overs still to go, there looked every possibility of an even bigger total than the visitors' eventual impressive tally. But a bizarre hit-wicket dismissal for the magnificent Guyanan - "come every week, I've scored centuries on your last three visits," he grinned at me - plus some never-say-die effort from Richard Glover, who ended with a "five-for", effected a damage limitation exercise.

Glover suffered like all Rawtenstall's bowlers after openers Peter Killelea and Andy Pooler got off to a flyer, the main damage coming from the mighty West Indian, who took 56 balls to get to 50 and just a further 22 to post his ton, with five sixes and 13 fours over the short Rawtenstall boundaries.

Credit to teenagers Andy Cormack and Afrus Ali, who each rose to their awesome task manfully with the Thompson brothers also in the groove. The young pair also clinched an outstanding piece, and young Cormack joked after being asked how he liked bowling to Harper: "Anything's better than keep having to take the covers on and off."

Cormack's toils were frequent as the steely skies periodically reduced his side's target, and despite the loss of vastly-experienced Peter Wood second ball, Wood's nephew Richard and Zimbabwean Whittall put on 65 in 13 overs before Wood was run out, shortly followed in similar fashion by captain Steve Tattersall.

With Harper, as ever, as economical with the ball as he is expansive with the bat, six an over looked tough whatever the reduction, but Whittall began to connect soundly and on the last resumption, 180 off 30 began to look an outside bet. The second of his four sixes brought up a 60-ball 50, and with the clouds rolling in, a rare six off Harper might have set up a thrilling chase to the 27-over mark had the final downpour not ended proceedings just before eight.

"The guys are really trying, even through the bad times," said Whittall, who is desperately seeking some of Harper's economy with the ball. "I haven't kept the runs down like Roger does and we're missing Tony Greenwood, and at the moment I don't seem to be able to contain six-out-of-six as I'm hoping to do.

"Cricket goes in cycles. We're down at the moment and it's a learning curve for the lads," added Peter Wood. "We'll come good, I'm sure. I've played in good sides here and there's no doubt it's better when you're winning. But we just need to keep going."

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