THRILLING FINISH

Posted by Brian Sanderson,

On Sunday I picked up Peter in Burley and set of for Haslingden.It had been raining over night and some heavy showers in the morning however the forecast was sunny.After some difficulty we found the ground and parked the car in the ground.The gateman said the match should play even though the pitch had been under water in the morning.The match was a Lancashire Cricket League fixture with Haslingden was second and Church third.

We had lunch of home made stake pie and apple pie.Very nice.The groundmen put some matting on a old pitch and there was a lot of mud near the wicket how ever they started forty minutes late and would be a forty-four over match. The Church professional was Luke Woodcock who had been involved with the New Zealand A team and had come back to England to play the last four matches.Haslingden professional was Phil Hayes who plays for Loughborough University.

Church batted first with the opener Ammer Mirza requiring 56 runs to beat the Church amateur batting record which was held my Alec Holt. He achieved the feat during the innings. Also Steve Dearden achieved the Haslingden amateur bowling record which had been set in 1908 by Jack Hargreaves of 72 wickets.Church reached 177 for 9 so stopping Haslingden claiming another two points.

After tea Haslinden set of confident how ever they started losing wickets with Hayes failing.With two overs to go they required 22 in the last two overs and eight wickets down.They did win the match with three balls to spare.Church had a chance to win at the end but the thoughts were that they had not scored enough runs.

There had been a cold wind blowing but the excellent match was completed with Haslingden still second in the League but 16 points behind Ramsbottom.