A place in the knockout stages were up for grabs in the latest round of matches in the North West Cricket League T20 competition, write Ray Taylor and Bill Slinger.
In Group 1 South, Tonge reached 149-6, largely thanks to Hashan Dumindu’s 76. Ryleigh Cameron struck a quickfire half century for Little Lever, but it was skipper Josh Gent who saw then home with just one ball remaining in a more patient 35 not out. Both teams had won all their previous matches so Little Lever will host Farnworth in the quarter final on July 4, while Tonge make the short trip to Astley Bridge.
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Reece Gray was top scorer for Lostock with 47 in their 129-7. Jameel Stuart made 34 for Farnworth Social Circle but 3-16 for Nikhil Patel helped them restrict Circle to 93-9.
After six overs Kearsley were 61-1, Ajay Rohera making 37, but three cheap wickets apiece for Umar Khan and Mirza Suhail pinned them back to 131 all out. However, this was more than enough, Irfan Kareem with 3-7 the pick of the bowlers as Walkden were dismissed for 95.
In Group 2 South, from 81-2 with most of their overs remaining, Atherton could only muster 124-8, Jack Welch with 31 of these. Yasir Rashid took 3-12 for Farnworth who went on to win by six wickets, Abid Ali 51 and Liam Smith 43.
Opening batsmen Hasaru Hewage and James Richards produced an opening partnership of 139 in their total of 141-1, then restricted Blackrod to 106-6, Charlie Fletcher 47 not out. Although Eagley finished with the same points as Farnworth, the latter qualify for the quarter final have won the head-to-head match.
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Group winners with maximum points are Astley Bridge, whose 160-7 (Irfan Puda 39, Robson Matthews 4-17) was seventy too many for Brinscall.
In the Group 1 North winner-takes-all-match – with the winners to qualify for an away match in the Quarter Finals -Ribblesdale Wanderers won the toss and elected to bat.
They were quickly reduced to 32-4, Jordan Kelly(1), Hashan Dhanuska(4), Ryan Canning(0) and Waqar Rafique(14). Hammad Amin 36 and Mack Spencer 31 added 56 for the fifth wicket, but a total of 106-8 looked well under par. Zander Van Tonder took 3-21 and Toby Burrows 2-9.
In reply, openers Callum Clarke(6) and Ifitakar Naseem 41 added 53 for the first wicket. However, a collapse gave Ribblesdale an outside chance, Van Tonder saw Padiham over the line with 30 not out off the first ball of the final over to give Padiham a five wicket win and their place in the Quarter Final.
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Read continued their impress run of victories against Barnoldswick, electing to bat with their innings dominated by Joe Halstead, who scored 119 off 63 deliveries including 14 fours and 6 sixes. He got good support from Will Wrathall who made 30 in a 123 run 3rd wicket partnership.
Read ended on 172-4.
Barnoldswick reply got off to an explosive start Deron Greaves 26 off eight balls, there were contributions of 41 from Trent Riddell and 23 each from Jonny Beech and Fezaan Imtiaz. They were well in front of the required rate bur were bowled out for 151 just 21 runs short of their target with 4.3 overs remaining.
The result gives Read a 100 per cent record with five wins out of five and a home draw in the quarter-final.
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The closest finish in this group came at Earby where they beat Foulridge by just two runs the match going to the final ball of the match.
Foulridge won the toss and elected to field. Luke Chapman batted throughout the innings to end on 61 not out, off 65 deliveries with 6 fours and two sixes, he got some support from Dunith Jayathunga 26 in a total of 128-8. Shahbaz Munir took 5-16 with Tom Johnson taking 3-29.
In reply, Muhammad Hussain made 38 and Sarath Babu 40 as the match came down to the final ball, but a run out meant Foulridge were all out for 126, two runs short of their target. Jayathunga took 3-16 and Jake Hargreaves 3-27.
Read will therefore play the Runners Up in Group North Two at home in the Quarter Finals.
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In North Group 2, unbeaten Salesbury visited Baxenden and it was Baxenden who won the toss and elected to bat.
Ben Gorton made 38 and S Ahktar 23 in a total of 127-9.
Salesbury made short work of the target G Tarr making 60 off just 29 deliveries including six fours and five sixes. Captain Lewis Pearson, 23 not out saw Salesbury home by seven wickets with more than five overs to spare.
Whalley batted first against Cherry Tree, and their total of 171-8, was due to 102 by their professional Lev Wolfenden off only 47 deliveries including 7 fours and 10 sixes. Frankie Jackson made 24. Joe Ince took 4-21.
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In reply, Charlie Elwood made 77 off 42 and got good support from Mo Bhada with a run a ball 31, however they ended up on 161-9 having been 103-1 at one stage. Edward Burrow did most of the damage with 5-20 as Whalley won by 10 runs.
This Group has two fixtures still to be played next week.
The top two Salesbury and Whalley play each other on Thursday evening, with the winners of that match winning the Group and a home Quarter Final against Padiham and the losers an away Quarter Final at Read.
The final Group match takes place on Friday evening between Cherry Tree and Oswaldtwistle.
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