Sleep has his feet on ground

The Blackburn Road club are riding high in the SponsorBank Lancashire League, having won three of their opening four matches to go joint top in the table with Enfield.

But Sleep isn't getting carried away by his side's impressive early season form, insisting there's still a long way to go before his team can start to think about a first title in 10 years.

"It's far too early to start talking about title challenges," said Sleep.

"If I say yes, we're going to win it' then we'll probably end up finishing bottom.

"We've just got to keep on winning, get through June and July and the holiday period, and then see where we are then.

"If we keep on winning games then who knows?"

Rishton provided further compelling evidence of a possible revival in their fortunes when they cruised to an eight-wicket win over Haslingden last weekend.

"To beat a team like Haslingden in such convincing fashion shows how far we've come," said Sleep.

"At the moment, John Cordingley is playing some sensational cricket and his opening partner Shaun Wyse has done well, too.

"We've then got Mo Ahmed, who's normally an opener, coming in at three, so we've got a strong batting line-up.

"On top of that, the pro, Vernon Philander, has also been excellent as well. Now we've just got to keep it going."

Rishton are at home tomorrow against Accrington, whose professional Nishit Shetty has taken the SponsorBank Lancashire League by storm, and captain Matt Wilson hopes his staggering form can continue at Rishton tomorrow.

After hitting 173 in the win over Rawtenstall last weekend, the Indian left-hander is fast approaching 400 runs for the season already.

"You hope, but you don't expect a pro to come over here and do that in the first three games," said Wilson.

"He was dropped a few times last week to be fair, but you've still got to get the runs."

He added: "Rishton are flying but we'll be trying to stop them."

CHURCH make a number of changes from the side that play Milnrow in the Interleague Club Championships.

Adam Greenwood, Sam Tucker and skipper Phil Sykes replace Ryan North, Alec Holt and Oliver Rigby in the side to play Ramsbottom.

Captain Sykes said: "Ramsbottom had an excellent year last year and they've added to their squad.

"But we need to back our pro up with the bat. We're not getting enough runs on the board."

RAMSBOTTOM, who have won two of their opening three games, name an unchanged side.

There will be a score to settle as Todmorden pro Morne van Wyk and Nelson's Robin Peterson square off at Centre Vale tomorrow.

The Tod pro, playing for South African side Eagles, rattled 200 not out against Peterson and his Warriors side as van Wyk's men won the SuperSport Series fixture by an innings and 173 runs.

And skipper Priestley is hoping for more of the same.

He said: "I don't want to tempt fate but I hope he has another good time against Peterson.

"They're a good side and it'll be a battle but we'll play them fancying our chances of doing the business."

For NELSON, Marcus Phelan and Martin Heap replace Lewis Bradley and Khurram Nazir.

RAWTENSTALL skipper, Vinny Hanson, admits his side had a good long chat after last weekend's poor performance in defeat at Accrington.

Hanson said: "Last weekend's defeat is definitely one to erase from the memory bank. But we had a good chat about it and the lads are definitely up for tomorrow's game.

"It will be our first home game of the season so we'll want to give our fans something to cheer about."

Andrew Payne returns to open the batting while Tom Chadwick keeps his place in the side. Afraz Ali and Andy Riley are both missing.

BURNLEY'S line-up is boosted by the return of talented opener Vishal Tripathi and Andy McLeod. They replace James Capstick and Graham Lalor.

COLNE captain David Swarbrick believes his side's new found resilience has been a real bonus this season.

Swarbrick, who returns to the side for tomorrow's visit of Haslingden, said: "We dug deep to beat Burnley last weekend and that is something we possibly would not have done last season. The aim is to pick up as many bonus points as we can so I'm delighted we have done that in our last two games."

Chris Willan, who sits out today's Inter League Cup clash at Monton and Weaste, returns in place of Sid Sheraz.

HASLINGDEN make one change with Andy Smith replacing Jo Sipocz.

Joint leaders ENFIELD will be aiming to take advantage of their thriving confidence and extend their unbeaten start to the season at home to East Lancs Captain David Bracewell says the Dill Hall Lane side have got into a winning habit, and it's one they don't want to get out of.

"Our only disappointment is that we've had two games called off because of bad weather when we've been in good positions. We could have done even more damage," he said.

Improvements in the amateurs' batting has been a crucial boost to the side.

"Last year it took us until the 15th game for an amateur to get 50, but Craig Fergusson has had two really good innings," added Bracewell, who brings in Andy Barker and Neil Holmes for Mick Devanney and Andrew Windle tomorrow.

Experienced campaigner Phil Mercer has come out of retirement in the hope of re-igniting EAST LANCS' season.

The 2003 champions have yet to win a game this term, but skipper Phil Bolton believes Mercer's presence in the middle order could help to galvanise his troops.

"Phil's been talked out of retirement and he's with us for the season now, which is a massive plus," said Bolton.

"We've missed an experienced number five to come in and win games for us."

Champions LOWERHOUSE have Charlie Cottam back for the home clash against Bacup, and wait on Stuart Grant's availability.

Professional Chris Cairns returns for BACUP, but Lowerhouse manager Stan Heaton said: "Chris is a great player and he seems to be settling in well, but we're only concentrating on our own performance."

Bacup captain John Chapman will make a late decision on whether his broken finger has healed enough for him to play. Callum Jones returns to replace Dave Warren.