Last-wicket pair Shoyab Haji and George Leather were Tonge’s heroes as they shared 21 to secure a one-wicket win at home to Premiership rivals Lostock on Saturday during round two of the Anthony Axford North West Cricket League.
Tonge bounced back from an opening day defeat to Little Lever by chasing 149, despite having slipped to 121-9.
Haji earlier took the new ball and claimed three wickets in Lostock’s 148-9 before leading the late heist with 15 not out, including hitting the winning boundary. Tonge professional Hashan Dumindu claimed five wickets and his Lostock counterpart Akbar Ur Rehman six before Leather contributed five runs at the death.
Elsewhere in the Premiership, Little Lever, Farnworth Social Circle and Read all claimed their second wins, while Championship trio Barnoldswick, Oswaldtwistle Immanuel and Astley Bridge all did likewise.
There was another one-wicket win in the second-tier. That went to Baxenden, at home to Earby (197 all out).
In reply, Baxenden’s task was even greater than Tonge’s had been. They had fallen to 165-9, only for Matthew Austin and Ryan Pearson, unbeaten on 29 and 11 respectively, to share 33 for the last wicket. They shared three sixes within that.
Earlier, Austin struck twice with the new ball for the hosts added to five wickets for Australian overseas amateur Mitchell Slattery.
In terms of the 100 percent records in the Premiership, Little Lever brushed aside home side Eagley by 141 runs on the back of posting a commanding 270-7 total.
Pakistani pro Muhammad Junaid was the star of the show once again. He top-scored with a middle order 83 and then ran through Eagley – 129 all out – with a brilliant 7-27 from 9.5 overs of left-arm spin. That haul included three wickets in an over.
Last weekend against Tonge, Junaid hit 98 not out and took six wickets.
Farnworth Social Circle consigned champions Blackrod (212-9) to a second successive defeat, this one by five wickets.
Chris Barrow’s spin returned five wickets for hosts Social Circle before Bajan pro Jameel Stuart’s brutal and brilliant 73-ball 100 not out included eight sixes.
And newly-promoted Read look to have taken to Premiership life like a duck to water. They were away winners at Salesbury by 63 runs and, the Hamer Cup champions are living up to their billing of pre-season title contenders.
Sri Lankan pro Sehan Weerasinghe was their hero, almost matching the performance put in by Little Lever’s Junaid. Weerasinghe top-scored with a well-paced 73 in Read’s 219-8 before claiming 6-23 from 12 overs of off-spin in Salesbury’s 156-9.
The other newly-promoted side Atherton claimed an impressive home win over Padiham, by three wickets chasing 152.
Zeeshan Alsam claimed five wickets in Padiham’s 151 all out before Atherton’s Bajan OA Jamaine Bullen finished 35 not out in pursuit. He had earlier claimed three wickets having taken the new ball.
And hosts Kearsley beat Farnworth by five runs in another tense Saturday fixture as they only just defended a target of 198.
Kearsley were bowled out for 197. Mustafa Bashir posted a crucial 64 from number nine to recover them from 105-7 before striking twice in defence having taken the new ball. Ahmed Matloob also struck three times in Farnworth’s 192 all out, which saw them stumble from 93-2.
In the Championship, Oswaldtwistle won by 14 runs at Brinscall, who were all out for 132 in reply to 146-8. Sebastian Radler top-scored with 49 for the visitors before captain Dean Martin claimed five wickets with his seamers in a successful defence.
Astley Bridge also won for the second successive week. This was more convincing than Oswaldtwistle’s win.
Hosts Bridge beat Walkden by 109 runs on the back of their commanding 269-9 total. Their Sri Lankan pro Dhanushka Dhamasiri top-scored with a superb middle order 91 off 69 balls with four sixes.
In Walkden’s 160 all out, Joe Ducker claimed four wickets.
Barnoldswick are also two wins from two. They beat Cherry Tree at home by six wickets. St Vincent OA Deron Greaves struck four times to help bowl Cherry Tree out for 169 before opener Adil Khan top-scored with 41 in a strong chase.
And finally, home side Ribblesdale Wanderers beat Whalley by eight runs.
The School Lane side have been beaten by Whalley away and Oswaldtwistle Immanuel at home in the opening two rounds of this year’s Anthony Axford North West Cricket League, despite having chances to win both games, especially on Saturday just gone.
Having elected to field, they limited Oswaldtwistle to 146-8 before advancing to 53-1 in reply. However, they were bowled out for 132, slipping to a 14-run reverse as visiting skipper Dean Martin claimed five wickets with his seamers.
Against Whalley in the opening game, the hosts posted 255-4, and Brinscall were 97-1 and 160-2 in response before slipping to 191 all out.
“If we go back to last week, we didn’t field or bowl very well, frankly,” said Winstanley. “We should have been probably been chasing 180-190 in reality, and we’d have got them.
“This weekend, it was almost like a complete opposite performance.
“We were absolutely on it in the field, we bowled and fielded really well, restricted them to 140-odd on a good deck, but unfortunately not enough people took responsibility in the chase.
“There were a lot of poor shots in there, whereas a little bit more application and we’d have got home easy peasy. Credit to Ossy, they bowled one side of the wicket and fielded well. But, even so, we should have chased them.”
At 53-1 with Winstanley and new South African overseas amateur Richard Williams together, Brinscall were on course, but the former was bowled for 21 by Martin and the latter run out for 56. Nobody else made it beyond 20.
Winstanley continued: “Look, we’ve got a great group of lads, and they’re all holding their hands up saying, ‘Yeah, we haven’t taken enough responsibility there’.
“We’re obviously behind where we wanted to be at this stage, but a few wins on the bounce and things change quickly, don’t they.
“At the end of last season, we finished third, albeit fourth if you’re honest had it not been for Walkden’s points deduction. We perhaps overachieved a little bit. But we did think that if we could sign a couple of players we’d have a really good chance of going up. And that’s still the aim.”
While those signings have come in two all-rounders, Williams as OA and new Sri Lankan professional Kasun Abeyrathna – the latter who bats, keeps wicket and can bowl leg-spin, they have been hurt by the loss of Atiq Shah to Atherton.
Last year’s captain Sam Maclachlan is also unavailable having gone abroad to work for six months, meaning Winstanley is back for another stint leading the side.
“I did an interview before the season for the NWCL’s social media and was asked what I wanted to be described as,” continued Winstanley. “I said, ‘I’m back as emergency first team captain’.
“We were rebuilding under Sam last year, and we didn’t expect him to be going away. So, four weeks before the start of the season the committee asked me would I do it. And I said, ‘Of course I will’.
“I’ve done it before, and I do enjoy it.
“It’s probably given me a little bit more responsibility as well. I’ve found myself in the last two weeks really getting my head down with the bat.
“We’ve got half a new team again, but the lads are all together and it feels like a proper Brinscall dressing room.”
And Winstanley added: “The club’s in a really good place – it’s in rude health. From 4pm onwards on Saturday, it was just full, and some of the juniors were up there having a net. It’s really good to see.
