Lancashire League Round-up

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph

31 August 1998


East Lancs' title hopes are still alive despite a dramatic last over defeat at the hands of Corrie Jordaan and Rishton at Blackburn Road.

Chasing the home side's formidable 211-6, East Lancs needed eight runs off Jordaan's last over with two wickets in hand after Phil Mooney (48) and Jan Van Boeckell had put on 65 quick runs for the eighth wicket.

But the South African spin king kept his nerve as Mooney was caught by skipper Russ Whalley and he then bowled Paul Kelly off his penultimate ball as East Lancs fell four runs short and Jordaan finished with 7-67.

Earlier in the day, East Lancs old-boy John Wharton (62) and Jonathan Dobson (53 not out) had helped Rishton compile their daunting total.

The visitors looked out of the hunt once Mark Lomas had departed for a 76-ball 65 as they slipped to 136-7, before Van Boeckell and Mooney hauled them back into it.

But Jordaan had the last laugh.

Rawtenstall recorded only their fourth win of the season as skipper Keith Roscoe kept his head at the death to secure an exciting one-wicket win at Bacup.

Chasing a modest Bacup total of 122-8, in which Roscoe had claimed 3-26 from 18 overs, Rawtenstall looked to be cruising to victory when they needed just 11 from the final four overs with four wickets in hand.

But David Ormerod then took three wickets in nine balls, including that of Glen Barlow for a top-scoring 32, to reduce the visitors to 119-9 in the 43rd over. Roscoe silenced the alarm bells, however, to see his side home with two balls to spare.

Ramsbottom's last pair of Mick Haslam and Richard Hevingham hung on bravely to deny Haslingden victory and help Ramsbottom cling on to the third place in the table.

Once professional Ian Harvey went for 81 with the score on 132, Ramsbottom had no chance of overhauling Haslingden's 226-7 declared.

And the loss of three wickets for one run put the home side firmly in the driving seat with Hamish Anthony looking to sign off on a high note.

But Haslam survived for 41 balls and Hevingham, who had injured a hand behind the stumps earlier on, remained defiant for 21 balls to frustrate the home side.

On an excellent batting track, Haslingden put themselves in a strong position with major contributions from the top order, notably opener Jack Simpson (52) and number three Mick Ingham (62 not out).

Accrington missed an opportunity to stave off the wooden spoon when they let Church off the hook at Thorneyholme Road.

Ryan Campbell returned to the Accrington side following his commitments with the Australian 'A' touring party and gave the basement club a platform for victory.

He took four wickets as Church were dismissed for 169, in which professional Neil McGarrell made 64 from 91 balls with five fours and a six and extras was second top-scorer with 32. And Campbell then hit 67 as Accrington reached 101 before losing their second wicket.

However, they then collapsed from 132-3 to 151-9 and with three run-outs, two to direct hits from McGarrell, had to re-adjust to claim the two bonus batting points with nine wickets down.

Todmorden ran out of steam and settled for a draw against Enfield who were dismissed for 152.

With 46 overs to reach their target Todmorden looked set for victory when Alex Scholefield was at the crease.

He hit eight fours in an 84-ball half-century but when he fell to substitute professional Peter Sleep for 68 with the score on 138, Todmorden shut up shop with Brian Heywood finishing unbeaten on 27.

The roles had been reversed earlier when Scholefield removed Sleep for 15 which left Gary Barker to hold the Enfield innings together with 66 off 106 balls with five fours and a six as Heywood claimed 4-28 from 11 overs.

Joe Scuderi inspired Colne to only their fourth win of the season with a century against Lowerhouse who crashed to a 106-run defeat. Scuderi showed no ill effects from a shoulder injury sustained the previous week as he reached a chanceless 100 from 115 deliveries.

The South Australian hit 15 boundaries as he enabled skipper Gary Laycock, who weighed in with 40, to declare after 48 overs.

Colne didn't require the extra time, however, as Lowerhouse crumbled inside 42 overs once professional Matthew Mott perished early on and no-one else hung around to support opener Nick Hope.

Scuderi picked up two wickets and Gary Hunt claimed 3-27 as Colne moved above Lowerhouse in the table.

Browned off!

Nelson fans must have felt well and truly browned off after Burnley extended the race for the Lancashire League title into another week.

But, then, so were the majority of this bumper Bank Holiday crowd after Peter Brown and co. batted out the last 25 overs of this match for a bore draw.

It was all set up for a memorable day's entertainment.

The sun had it's hat on, the Seedhill bar was doing big business, and Nelson and their fans knew victory could seal their 20th Lancashire League title.

But the second half of this match just was not cricket.

Chasing Nelson's 152 all out, the Turf Moor side never went for victory.

And once skipper Andy McLeod was the third man out with the Burnley reply on 34, with plenty of overs in hand, they simply shut up shop.

By the time Brown's 83-ball 33 came to an end off the last ball of the game many spectators had long since packed their deck chairs away, preferring instead, no doubt, to watch the grass grow in their garden's at home.

It was a sensible choice because the last hour and a half of this match was endured rather than enjoyed.

The only ripple of excitement in that period was the news filtering through that Rishton had managed to get the better of title-rivals East Lancs in a dramatic last over of a real contest at Blackburn Road.

It all means Nelson will have to put the champagne on ice at least until the weekend when they take on Church.

The long-time leaders had made heavy weather of it themselves when they slipped to 38-4 after 16-year-old James Anderson had knocked the stuffing out of their top order.

Anderson was set for a hat-trick when he had Roger Harper caught behind first ball, the delivery after accounting for opener Trevor Kegg (6) in the same fashion. With Paul Garaghty (1) and Craig Walton also back in the tent with 38 on the board, it was left to Marcus Phelan and Michael Bradley to stage a recovery.

The pair put on 79 for the fifth wicket before David Connolly finally brought an end to Bradley's innings one short of his 50.

And professional Anthony Botha ended Phelan's dogged resistance 11 runs later when he was stumped by McLeod for an 83-ball 34. Botha and Connolly wrapped up the rest of the tail between them as Nelson were bowled out for 152 with three balls left of their 55 overs.

A flashing cut by Michael Brown to the cover boundary off Kegg lulled the crowd into a false sense of security as Burnley began their reply with a flourish. But Harper then bowled Brown and a magnificent piece of fielding from the West Indian ran out Ben Law as the visitors slipped to 21-2.

McLeod stayed around for a while but became frustrated in the face of some tight bowling by Harper and holed out to Trevor Kegg at long on. Even at that stage Burnley's goose was hardly cooked, needing 119 at around four an over with seven wickets in hand.

But up came the shutters.

Kegg claimed his first victim when Ian Whitehead (0) was through an attempted pull too soon and he top-edged a looping catch to wicketkeeper Bradley.

David Brown became Kegg's second victim when he tried to work the ball through midwicket but spooned a chance to Peter Cockell at mid on.

Botha's painstaking 27, which took 32 overs to compile, was finally brought to an end by Cockell when he uprooted his middle stump. But Peter Brown and Simon Edmondson blocked out the last 13 overs before Danny Kegg snapped up Edmondson in the penultimate over to at least claim an extra bonus bowling point.

And Brown's obduracy came to an end when he was caught in close off the final ball of the match. But the proceedings had become academic long before that.

Nelson were deducted one point for their slow over rate.


Source: The Lancashire Evening Telegraph

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Date-stamped : 07 Oct1998 - 04:31