NWCL Birtwistle Cup Week 3 By Bill Slinger
The Report from Week Three of the Birtwistle Cup 20/20 Senior Cup
The change in the weather brought some lower scores as well as some tight finishes in Week Three of the Birtwistle Cup.
Group North One
This Group produced three low scoring matches but also two last ball finishes.
Barnoldswick v Padiham
Padiham batted first and scored 119-6, mainly due to 49 not out from Zander Van Tonder.
Barnoldswick lost both openers with just 4 runs on the board. An unbeaten third wicket partnership of 110 runs between Abdul Saddique 41 not out and Trent Riddell 53 not out was still not enough to get Barnoldswick over the line as they finished on 114-2, five runs short of victory.
Ribblesdale Wanderers v Read
Read set a target of 111-8, Zadian Muller making 23 and James Evans 43. Jack Fielding took 3-16.
Ribblesdale lost wickets on a regular basis, Mack Spencer top scoring with 27. In the last over a couple of wickets fell and Ribblesdale ended on 106-9, just five runs short of their target.
Sehan Weerasinghe took 3-15.
Earby v Foulridge
Foulridge batted first and recovered from 7-4, Abrar Sawar making 37 in a total of 79 all out. Jason Lockley took 3-8.
Nandus McClean 38 not out and Utkarsh Srivastava 34 not out shared an unbeaten second wicket partnership of 81 to give Earby a 9 wicket win with 11 overs to spare.
Group North Two
Cherry Tree v Salesbury
Salesbury posted 148- 7, opener Juan James made 52 including 9 fours and a six and got good support from Nick Gibb.
In reply, openers Mo Bhada 26 and Hudson Walshaw 24 got Cherry Tree off to a good start, but it was down hill from that point with only Harry Stevenson with 18 being the only other batsman to make double figures in a total of 103 all out. Lewis Pearson took 3-25 and Daniel Rawson 3-16.
Baxenden v Cherry Tree
Baxenden won the toss and were quickly reduced to 37-7. Ryan Pearson made 20 as Baxenden posted a score of 69 all out. Imran Abid ended with the remarkable figures of 4 overs, 4 maidens two wickets and did not concede a run.
Tyler Evans made a quick 36 so decide the contest with more than 10 overs to spare, despite Owen Elwood taking 3-4.
Group South One
Farnworth v Farnworth SC
In the Farnworth Derby, Farnworth openers Matthew Hicks 22 and Tayler-Jay Heyes 38 got them off to a good start, however only Nakash Qamar with 30 made any other real contribution in a total of 128-8. Daniel Hughes had the excellent figures of 5-22.
FSC openers Archie Walsh 32 and Nathan Elliott 62 including 8 fours and 4 sixes set the foundation and Josh French(31 not out) saw FSC home by 8 wickets with 6 overs to spare.
Walkden v Atherton
Atherton posted the highest score of the week, 193-5. Zeeshan Aslam made 60 and Sawan Kankanange 41 with good support from Oliver Gredecki 34 not out.
Walkden’s reply was dominated by Soham Panvalker, who made 76 off 612 deliveries including 6 fours and 5 sixes, however Walkden were bowled out for 148, mainly due to 5-28 from Zeehan Aslam to complete an excellent all-round performance and a 45 run win to Atherton.
The match between Brinscall and Little Lever was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
Group South Two
Astley Bridge v Eagley
Astley Bridge batted first and were reduced to 39-4. Ubaid Ullah made 39 off just 18 deliveries including 5 sixes and 5 consecutive boundaries in the 11th over. Hasib Patel made 26 not out to give Astley Bridge something to bowl at ending 115-8.
In reply, Opener Jack Wainman made 31 and professional Waqar Ahmed 43 not out saw Eagley home by six wickets with 4 overs in hand.
Tonge v Kearsley
Kearsley batted first had an opening stand of 60, between Mohmedruhan Tirmizi 31 and Byron Giraudeaux 29. Dharaj Patel built on the foundation making 65 off 36 deliveries including 2 fours and 6 sixes to enable Kearsley to score 193-6.
In reply, Tonge were always behind the required rate, and Andy Gregory’s 4-10, made sure they were well short of their target ending on 128-8.
Lostock Spitfires v Blackrod
Lostock batted first, openers George Jackson made 25 and Abdul Rehan 46 in a first wicket stand of 63. Lucas Cavigan made 22 in a total of 116-6. Noah Ashworth took 3-16.
An opening stand of 92 between, Kavindu Kulasekara making 41 not out and Thushendra De Zoysa 61 gave Blackrod a 9 wicket win with 5 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.
