WICKETS tumbled spectacularly and fans turning up for the second innings and avoiding their admission fee missed out on their cricket as Colne roared to only their second win of the Lancashire League season yesterday.

But a game that finished shortly after 4.15pm left Rishton with murmerings of discontent with the umpires as they collapsed quite incredibly.

Andy Bartley’s men felt, perhaps with some justification, that five, maybe six of their dismissals were harsh - as they were shot out for just 57 in 25.3 overs.

While it is hard to judge decisons from the edge, Rishton may have had a point as professional Aaron Heal and colleagues Craig Smith, Bartley, Tiarnan Hamill and Jimmy Bibby were given out when they certainly believed it not to be the case.

That said, if Colne got a helping hand, they more than deserved it for a fine display of bowling from skipper Jeff Ellis and pro Anwar Ali, who both finished with five wickets, and a sharp fielding performance.

Ellis claimed 5-17 from 12 overs, finishing with four straight maidens, and Karachi quickie Ali 5-28 as they shone in the sun to destroy Rishton.

Bartley won the toss and chose to take first knock on a track that was only going to deteriorate as the afternoon wore on. A score in the region of 140 would have made the game interesting - but they never looked like doing that.

Their brief innings courted controversy and the pace of Ali - you have to wonder where Colne would be in the table had he been here all season - had already seen Richard Rostron chop one onto his own stumps with the score on eight - and just one ball later, professional Heal was left aghast as he was given out leg before when the ball appeared to be heading well down leg leaving the Aussie to walk off with thoughts that wouldn’t be printable.

A score of 8-2 with less than 13 minutes of cricket played was bad enough but Chris Lambert holed out to Matt Walker on the edge off Ellis.

Hamill joined Smith and the pair took the score to 41 before Hamill was left muttering under his breath after being given out, caught well down the leg side by wicket-keeper Liam Sumpter off Ellis.

Any noise seemed to come from Hamill’s bat hitting his foot.

Then the next ball, skipper Bartley was ruled to have edged Ellis through to Sumpter, meaning for the second time in the match, Colne were on a hat-trick.

Rishton survived that - but with the score on 48, Bibby was given out leg before to Ali despite getting a stride in that took him well back towards the pavilion.

Rishton were now in disarray and Smith was the next man to feel aggrieved as he was caught leg before to Ali, although there appeared to be a bit of bat involved.

Sam Hacking was caught in the slips off Ellis and Garth Wyse went the next ball to put Colne on the edge of a hat-trick for the third time in the game, while Ellis had his five wickets.

By the time John Seedle was knocked over by Ali, the Pakistani’s fifth victim, Rishton were 57 all out and it wasn’t even 3pm.

Colne’s batting has been fragile this season and when they lost both Ellis and Lewis Rimmer - the latter to a blinding catch in the covers from Bibby off Heal - cheaply, there were one or two nerves creeping in.

And had fortune not been on the side of Ali first ball, it would have been tasty. But he survived despite the wildest of slashes and went on to steer his side home.

Sumpter was another batsman to be perplexed as he was out leg before to Rostron but the returning Matt Wilson made 16 and Ali’s giant six over extra cover took him to 32 and Colne to a win after just 16 overs.

If decisons do even themselves out, Rishton could be a good bet for a few wins from now on in.

Rishton innings
CR Lambert c Walker b Ellis 11
RJ Rostron b Ali 0
Heal lbw b Ali 0
CA Smith lbw b Ali 18
T Hamill c Sumpter b Ellis 4
A Bartley c Sumpter b Ellis 0
JT Bibby lbw b Ali 6
SJ Hacking c Sumpter b Ellis 1
JB Seedle b Ali 4
G Wyse c Wilson b Ellis 0
B Hamilton not out 0
Extras 13
Total (10 wickets) 57

Ali 12.3 5 28 5, Ellis 12 6 17 5

Colne innings
L Rimmer c Bibby b Heal 1
JS Ellis c Hamill b Wyse 0
L Sumpter lbw b Rostron 8
Ali not out 32
M Wilson not out 16
Extras 5
Total (3 wickets) 62

Heal 5 3 20 1, Wyse 7 3 21 1, Rostron 4 2 17 1

Colne won by 7 wickets. Rishton 0pts, Colne 12pts.