It was a weekend of further disappointment for EDS Leigh with their failure to win at Northern, which caused them to drop to third frombottom of the league, being followed by dismissal from the National Knockout competition by the same opposition.

In the league match at Crosby, Dave Dove elected to bat first in superb conditions, but his team were soon under pressure on a bouncy wicket after another poor start reduced them to 27-3 and it was left once again to Heath Pedrola and Gareth Cross to retrieve the initiative.

Magnificent form

Pedrola was in magnificent form as he raced to his fifty off 64 balls. He was given intelligent support by Cross and this pair put Leigh back on top with a partnership of 135. After the young Leigh wicketkeeper had departed for 38, Pedrola continued to attack until he was well caught at deep square leg just two runs short of what would have been a thoroughly deserved century, having struck 18 boundaries in all.

At this point, wickets were falling at regular intervals as opening bowler Brown returned to take 5-46. Leigh totalled 205 all out off 48.1 overs with Brendon Donkers not out for 23. He has now remained undefeated during his last five innings whilst totalling 119 runs.

Donkers and Davis opened the bowling impressively as Northern responded and kept the scoring rate down to less than two per over. They had little luck, however, and Leigh had to wait until the 14th over until Davis dismissed O'Brien for 24. Hey, who had been tied down early on, began to take control as Leigh turned to spinners Melia and Pedrola and had reached a solid half century when he was second out with 103 on the scoreboard.

Northern now required over five an over and the remaining batsmen were put under increasing pressure due to excellent bowling from Pedrola (3 for 59) and Paul Vallance (3 for 30). They had the home side in trouble as the eighth wicket fell with five overs remaining. The opening bowlers returned to the attack but could not finish off the opposition who closed at 170-8.

On Sunday at Beech Walk, it was Northern's turn to win the toss and bat first and they put together a useful total of 171 all out off their 45 overs.

Opener Hey was again top scorer with 35, with wicketkeeper Cole scoring 33. Leigh's best bowlers were again Pedrola (4 for 26 off 8 overs) and Vallance (1 for 24 off 9).

Batting frailties

Leigh's batting frailties were once again exposed as the visitors bowled well and fielded tigerishly. Steven Mullaney top scored with 25 but was not at his best as he needed 64 balls to reach this total. Tim Rees batted usefully for 22 but Leigh suffered a major blow as Pedrola, the previous day's top scorer, was dismissed without scoring. The rest of the batsmen got increasingly bogged down as the innings subsided to 126 all out in the 42nd. over. Leigh old boy Mike Holden took 3 for 29 with leg spinner Petafi being a surprise success with 3 for 28.