By Graham Hardcastle

Don’t forget about us is the message from Brinscall captain Sam Maclachlan as the Championship promotion race in the Anthony Axford North West Cricket League hots up.

Brinscall claimed a nervy two-wicket victory away at Oswaldtwistle Immanuel on Saturday as they chased down a 112-target.

It was win number six from 13 and leaves them fourth in the table on 92 points, 31 behind second-placed Walkden with nine games remaining in the summer.

They have it all to do, with 12 points available per success.

But Maclachlan is confident his side has what it takes to get the better of fellow contenders Walkden, Atherton and this Saturday’s opponents Baxenden, who they welcome to School Lane in a crucial battle of fourth v fifth.

The all-rounder said: “As a captain, I fully believe we’re well in it. If we keep doing our own thing, people will be quietly looking over their shoulders.

“If we continue to look after ourselves, not worry about anyone else, there’s a chance we could be in the mix come the end of the season.”

There’s no doubt Brinscall are still in it, but they can’t afford many more slip-ups between now and September 21.

“We’re not at our best, but we’re starting to get somewhere like,” said Maclachlan. “The defeats we had early season, we were losing well if that makes sense.

“We’d be picking up maximum bonus points in tight games.

“If we do really hit our straps, we’ll be a tough team to beat.”

On Saturday, having elected to bowl first at Oswaldtwistle, they bowled the hosts out for 111 courtesy of three wickets apiece for Sri Lankan professional Madura Madushanka and Finley Best plus two for Maclachlan.

In reply, Brinscall slipped from 56-2 to 90-8, but Atiq Shah’s middle order 25 not steered them over the line.

“We had three spinners in the team, myself bowling left-arm, the pro with his off-spin and Fin Best bowling leg-spin. He bowled a really good spell,” continued the skipper.

“It wasn’t the easiest wicket – quite slow and sticky. Spin was tough to get away, generally pace off was. But low-scoring games generally make for good ones.

“We certainly made hard work of it.

“We’ve given a few wickets away, but it was a cracking knock from Atiq Shah to get us over the line in the end. He was well supported by lads down the order.

“On that sort of a wicket, a 20 or a 30 is as good as a 60 or 70 on a better track.

“He took it deep and took on responsibility.”

While Maclachlan praised the contributions of Shah and Best, he also spoke about the influence of all-round pro Madushanka – and not just Saturday’s contribution.

The 30-year-old is in his first season with the club and has scored 632 runs in 17 games in all cricket added to 33 wickets.

“He’s been absolutely fantastic,” said Maclachlan. “For what we need as a professional, he fits the bill 10-fold.

“He’s been absolutely superb around the club, and his on-field performances have been brilliant. It helps massively to have a guy you can rely on with bat and ball.

“From the juniors all the way up to seniors, he’s really well liked. He’s very, very good around the club.

“He’s keen on helping develop the youngsters so that he has impact longer term and not just now.”

Maclachlan, in his first season as captain, is Brinscall through and through and has been at the club since the age of “five or six”. So if they can achieve promotion, it would be a huge personal achievement.

Not that this one club man wants to concentrate on himself, mind you.

He added: “People forget that it’s only our 10th season of senior division cricket, so we’re by no means established.

“For the size of the village where we are, the size of the club, we’re probably punching well above our weight.

“If we do manage to sneak up to the Premiership, we know it will be tough mixing it with the big boys. But we’d give it a real good go. It would be fantastic.”