NWCL Birtwistle Cup Week 2 By Bill Slinger
Birtwistle Cup 20/20 Week Two
The excellent weather had its effect with good wickets and very fast outfields being reflected in some high scores in the Week Two fixtures.
Group North One
Barnoldswick v Foulridge
Barnoldswick took advantage of winning the toss by posting an impressive total of 220-4 against Conference side Foulridge.
Openers Owais Shah 79(9 fours 3 sixes) and Deron Greaves 65 (11 fours and 2 sixes) added over a hundred for the first wicket. Trent Riddle made 41 not out to ensure the total went well over the 200 mark.
In reply, scoreboard pressure took its toll, as Foulridge reached 85-8, Sajeshkumar Pushpakaram top scoring with 22. Tariq Samiullah took 3-7, as Barnoldswick won by 135 runs.
Padiham v Ribblesdale Wanderers
Padiham were another team to pile on the runs with a total of 231-3. The innings was totally dominated by professional Iftikhar Naseer, who made 150 not out off just 70 deliveries including 9 fours and 15 huge sixes. Declan Bailey was the second highest scorer with 30.
Ribblesdale facing such a huge total collapsed to 77-6, but showed some good resistance to reach a total of157 all out, thanks to 67 from Bilal Ahmed and 28 from Charlie Windsor.
Toby Burrows took 3-22 in a 74 run win.
Read v Earby
Opener Zadian Muller hit 87 (6 fours and 8 sixes) as Read made 197-6. He got good support from Sehan Weerasinghe 37 and Oliver Dinning 30. Max Nutter had the remarkable figures considering the total of 4-19 off his four overs.
Despite Utkarsh Srivastava 23 and Alex White 30 Earby collapsed to 65-8, a 45-run 9th wicket partnership between Joseph Robinson 18 and Alex Hall 19 at least got them over the 100 mark, in an 87-run defeat.
Group North Two
Salesbury v Barrowford
Salesbury were made to work hard for their runs against Conference side Barrowford who were looking to build on their upset win against Baxenden the previous week.
Juan James made 45 and Liam Parkinson 22, but Salesbury were still reduced to 106-8, a vital 29 run 9th wicket partnership between Oliver Rawson 13 no and Harvey Vause 16 no got them up to 139 -8. Abid Ul Wahab took 3-39.
In reply, Opener M Hurraira made 45 but struggled to find much support, late runs from Ather Waheed 19 not out got the score up to 94 all out and a 41-run defeat. Juan James 3-26.
Baxenden v Cherry Tree
Baxenden batted first and were reduced to 22-3. Aneeq Hassan 30, Barend Lorens 37 not out and Edward Tomlinson 27 enabled to post a competitive total of 130-6.
In reply, Opener Hudson Walshaw batted throughout the innings to make 52 not out. He got good support from Ross Bretherton 21 and Ziyad Bhada 26. In a tense finish Cherry Tree needed five runs off the last over and two off the last ball, Walshaw saw them over the line with the two required and a six-wicket win.
Group South One
Atherton v Brinscall
Brinscall batted first and struggled to make a defendable total making 93-6 in their 20 overs. Opener Ravindra Rathnayake making 38.
The Atherton openers Zeehan Aslam 34 not out and Sawan Kankanange 56 not out knocked off the required runs with more than 10 overs to spare and a comfortable 10 wicket win.
Farnworth Social Circle v Walkden
Farnworth were another team to post a score of over the 200-mark making 203- 8. Jameel Stuart top scored with 66 including 5 fours and 5 sixes, Walkden did not help their cause by conceding 46 extras. Mubarak Gayra took 4-32.
Walkden were bowled out for 84, Rizwan Perves top scoring with 22 with Mirza Suhail taking 3-14 in a 119-run win for FSC.
Little Lever v Farnworth
Little Lever remain the team to beat in all competitions after another comprehensive win this time by 8 wickets against Farnworth.
Farnworth posted a score of 142-8, opener Ben Chapman made 24 and Liam Smith 34. Adil Nisar took 4-21.
In reply a 112 run third wicket partnership between Jp King 78 not out of just 49 deliveries, including 8 fours and 3 sixes and Nisar who completed an excellent all-round performance making 46 not out as Little Lever reached their target with three overs to spare.
Group South Two
Blackrod v Astley Bridge
Astley Bridge batted first and were bowled out for just 92. Ubaid Ullah made 35 not out. Noah Ashworth had the impressive figures of 4-9.
Blackrod reached their target with 3 overs to spare in an 8-wicket win, Kavindu Kulasekara making 48 not out.
Eagley v Tonge
Eagley batted first and set a challenging total of 159-4. Adeel Baig made 52 and Danish Aziz a quickfire 79 including 9 fours and 5 sixes.
Tonge were always behind the required rate despite Craig Jeffery making 48 and Shoyab Haji 36 as they fell 11 runs short of the winning post making 148-6.
Kearsley v Lostock Spitfires
Lostock batted first, opener George Jackson made 40, Lucas Cavigan 37 and Harry Jackson 20 in a total of 116-5.
In reply an opening stand of 93, between Mohmedruhan Tirmizi 53 not out and Byron Giraudeaux 44, ensure Kearsley enjoyed a comfortable 8 wicket with 6 overs to spare.
Best wishes,
Bill
Read lead the way in the Anthony Axford North West Cricket League Conference Premier Division with 49 points from 6 games, followed by Walkden with 43 from five.
On a day when several matches were affected by the weather, Oliver Dinning contributed 126 to Read’s 302-9. Farnworth’s response of 260 owed a lot to a last wicket partnership of 88, M Khalil coming in at ten and making 87.
Seventy runs for Aashif Ghantiwala and 60 for Hirza Sudhail helped Farnworth Social Circle recover from 92-6 to reach 220. Walkden were 126-8, but Mehan Anwar and Sajid Mahmood steered them to a two wicket win.
Jack Fielding had 4-30 in Cherry Tree’s 167-6, then Harry Stevenson with 5-26 helped dismiss Ribblesdale Wanderers for 131.
Chasing Salesbury’s 208-6 (D Rawson 72, E Salt 65 and A Anwar 4-34), S Pushpakaran helped Foulridge to 168-3, but they were only able to muster a further 16 runs, the last four wickets falling for two runs, E Salt 3-21, D Rawson 3-25.
In the second division, Atherton have 41 points from 5 and Padiham 39. Atherton’s 130-9 (M Khan 3-18) proved to be 12 too many for Burnley Belvedere with F Shah taking 4-30 and I Nuttall 4-51.
Chasing Barnoldswick’s 113, Hafeez Ul Wakas 52, Darren Parr 4-51, Lostock won by seven wickets, Amit Dashore 63 not out.
On Sunday there were four wickets for Ady Cooper in Astley Bridge’s eight wicket win against Blackrod, and a similar number for H Nazir in Feniscowles six wicket victory at Barnoldswick. There were half centuries for Kevin Hitchon and Finlay Best as Brinscall defeated Padiham. Haider Ali contributed a half century in Baxenden’s 95, Uzair Ahmed 5-20, but Majid Khan coming in at eight for Burnley Belvedere made 58 not out taking Burnley Belvedere to a one wicket win, Evan Pinder 5-24.
Earby lead the third division with 60 points from five matches. K Mara struck 57 in their 224, with K Ishfaq taking 5-44 for Foulridge seconds who were then bowled out for 141, D Harrison 4-48.
A Ahmed took 4-20 as Oswaldtwistle Immanuel totalled 155. Feniscowles chased down a reduced total to win by four wickets.
