NWCL Birtwistle Cup Week 1 By Bill Slinger
Report from Birtwistle Cup = Week One
The Birtwistle Cup, the Senior 20/20 competition started on Friday evening, with the usual format of four Groups playing each other once, with the top two in each Group qualifying for the Quarter Final knock out stage.
North One
Earby v Padiham
Earby batted first and made 94-9 mainly due to Nandus McLean who made 47.
In reply, Padiham reached the required total for the loss of five wickets, Owen Deakin-Pickard top scored with 36 with three wickets for Luke Hipgrave.
Read v Foulridge
Conference side Foulridge looked like they might spring as surprise as they reduced Premier side Read to 8-2. At this point Sehan Weerasinghe took over, he made 146 off just 69 deliveries including 12 fours and 11 sixes, got support from Will Wrathall who made 40 in a total of 215-5.
In reply Mohammed Faizan made 45 and Sarath Babu 40 in a total of 127 all out to give Read a comfortable win by 88 runs.
Foulridge will no doubt be glad to see the back of Weerasinghe who took 4-24.
Ribblesdale Wanderers v Barnoldswick
In the closest finish in the Group, Barnoldswick posted a score of 121-9, Owais Shah with 44 top scored.
In reply opener Dario Boyce made 74, 7 fours and 2 sixes as Ribblesdale looked to be cruising to victory at 96-3. However a collapse including losing 4 wickets for 4 runs left them needing three off the last ball with number 11 Mikey Worthy facing his first ball, which he hit for six to give Ribblesdale a nervy win by one wicket.
North Two
Baxenden v Barrowford
Championship side Baxenden took on Conference side Barrowford looking to avoid an upset. Baxenden batted first and made 142-7, Ben Gorton made 34 and Barend Lourens 31. Shuja Rashid took 3-24.
The Barrowford reply was completely dominated by opener M Hurraira who made 105 not out off 67 deliveries including 9 fours and 7 sixes to see Barrowford home by seven wickets with three balls to spare.
Cherry Tree v Oswaldtwistle
Cherry Tree batted first and made 170-6. Opener Mo Bhada made 53, Ross Bretherton 31 and Harvey O’Toole 31 not out.
Oswaldtwistle struggled in reply, only a third wicket partnership of 58 between Joel Gaskill 38 and Imran Abid 23 enabled them to make 99-9 in their 20 overs. Harrison Emly look 3-8.
South One
Atherton v Little Lever
Little Lever batted first and set a target of 142-6, Jade Smith making a quickfire 62 off just 36 deliveries including 7 fours and 4 sixes.
In reply, Atherton struggled after Andy Flear removed the top order taking 3-11 and they ended on 81-7 well short of their target.
Brinscall v Farnworth Social Circle
Opener Ravindu Rathnayke top scored with 34 as Brinscall were bowled out for 92. Josh French took 3-12.
FSC got home with six wickets and five overs to spare Jamal Stuart made 37 and Nathan Elliott 24 not out.
Walkden v Farnworth
Walkden made 133-8, mainly thanks to Soham Panvalkar who made 56 including 7 sixes. Anwar Ul Haq took 4-33.
Farnworth collapsed to 65 all out, Axan Riaz taking 3-9
South Two
Kearsley v Blackrod
Blackrod posted 143-8 mainly due to openers Kavindu Kulasekara 31 and Thushendra De Zoysa 21.
In reply Professional Karabo Mogotsi made 34 but they ended on 118-9, giving Blackrod victory by 25 runs. Lucas Ashworth took 3-22.
Lostock Spitfires v Eagley
The earliest finish came at Lostock. Lostock were all out for just 56, Harvey Seigne taking an impressive 5-12. Eagley required only 5.1overs to reach their target, Jack Wainman making 44 not out including 5 fours and 3 sixes.
Tonge v Astley Bridge
Astley Bridge batting first were reduced to 35-5. Hasib Patel 42 not out and Joe Ducker 18 managed to get them just over the hundred mark with 103-7.
Tonge looked in a dominant position at 52-0, openers Sam Hardman 30 and Alex Rodzoch 20. However the runs dried up and in a tense finish Tonge ended just 3 runs short on 110-6, Ubaid Ullah did most of the damage taking 4-26.
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.
