RECORD breaker Keith Roscoe looks to put another mark in the Foster’s Lancashire League history books this weekend as he bids to create another landmark to add to his growing collection of bowling feats.
The 52-year-old left-arm spinner is already way out in front as the leading wicket-taker in league history having passed the 1,500 mark last season.
And now he needs one more five-wicket haul for a remarkable Rawtenstall career century of ‘five-fors’ – and looks to wrap up that record in this weekend’s double header.
Roscoe’s 5-63 in the derby defeat at Haslingden last Sunday took him to a tally of 99 five-wicket hauls for Rocky and 111 in total after his 12 for first club Bacup early in his career but he says the imminent milestone is not something he had though about until recently.
“I had no idea until I was told at the start of the season that I had 97 for Rocky,” he said. “Like the 1,500 wickets it’s not something I set out to do but if you play long enough and bowl well enough these things come around.
“The problem now is batsmen have stopped giving me wickets so it might be this weekend or it could be in six weeks, who knows? But it is something to be proud of because these record are nice.”
Roscoe, however, is more focused on a win for Rawtenstall as they bid to return to form.
Tomorrow’s game at Alexandra Meadows promises to be a good affair with Rocky keen to recover from their mini stutter which has seen them slip from top to sixth in the past fortnight.
The match also sees a return to the Lancashire League for East Lancashire’s record breaking amateur batsman Paul Turner.
“I think we were probably in a false position when we were top but when you are there you want to stay there,” he said.
“Our cause hasn’t been helped by injuries to Nick Payne and Rizwan Shafiq and the availability of players.
“Some lads can only play one game a weekend and it doesn’t help the team and it’s skipper Vinny Hanson and pro Brett Pelser who I feel sorry for in that situation.
“They get little credit when we win but carry the can when we get smashed – and they don’t deserve that. But we are not alone in having availability issues and it seems to be the way things are nowadays.”
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