CHORLEY suffered at the seaside as they were well beaten by Morecambe’s impressive batting show in the Woodhill Lane sunshine on Saturday.
But there was better news for Andy Holdsworth’s men yesterday as they got back to winning ways with a victory against Lancashire Colts as the crowds came out for the Northern League programme.
Saturday got off to a bad start for the locals when David Fisher was knocked over by Jono Gates with the second ball and with Ian Dickinson and pro Mohammed Jamal also falling cheaply, they were reeling at 26-3.
After the departures of Andrew Winrow for 25 and David Catterall for 11 Chorley were in even bigger trouble at 51-5 but player-coach Gaurav Dhar and Will Moulton made a fair first of turning things around.
Dhar made 42 and Moulton 47, while there were also handy late contributions from Holdsworth (16) and Keiran McCullagh (10) as Chorley got up to 182-9 from their 50 overs with home pro Kelly Smuts the pick of the bowlers with three wickets.
Smuts and Josh Dixon both went for ducks – both caught at the wicket by Holdsworth off Chris Harty – as Chorley got on top in the early stages of the Morecambe reply but they missed pace bowler Billy Smith and with Ikram Ullah reaching a 100-ball 47 and Ryan Pearson (29) playing well the tide began to turn in the home side’s favour.
Jordan Willoughby then made a quick 30 but it was Lewis Edge who was the difference.
The former Blackpool goalkeeper hit an unbeaten 60 from just 58 balls, a knock which included five fours and four sixes, as Morecambe got over the line with five wickets down and six overs to spare.
It was a much better day yesterday as Chorley put Lancashire Colts to the sword.
Moulton hit 67 – including 28 off one over from former Chorley man Matt Critchley – and Jamal made 49 as the locals posted 210-9. Dhar also chipped in with 47 and then claimed five wickets as they won with ease.
Darwen had no game but they lost their place at the top of the table to Leyland.
The defending champions crushed Kendal despite 90 from Jamie How. How helped Kendal to 181 all out but Daniel Lamb’s unbeaten 60 and 54 from Alex Ross eased Leyland to a seven-wicket win.
Fleetwood pro JP de Villiers hit a ton but his men were stunned by Penrith as the new boys got past the home side’s 175 with Ryan Carruthers hitting 87.
Lukman Vahaluwala made 91 as St Annes inflicted a third straight defeat on Barrow, while Blackpool beat Lancaster and Preston turned Netherfield over.
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