BLACKPOOL cruised comfortably into the second round of the Thwaites LCB Knockout Cup competition at Stanley Park on Sunday (May 19) when they defeated Rainhill, of the Merseyside Competition, by nine wickets. In a rain-interrupted game, Rainhill batted first and made 145-6 from their 38 overs and in reply Blackpool took only 34.5 overs to make 146-1 to secure the victory.

Marcus Sharp and Paul Danson opened the bowling and, although neither took a wicket in their opening spells, they bowled tightly enough to keep the Rainhill scoring down to a minimum.

The opening pair, skipper Mike Rotherham and professional Rehan Rafique, put on 84 in 25 overs before Sharp returned to remove them both within the space of two balls. Rotherham, 34, lofted a shot to Steve Mercer at deep mid-on and Rafique, having got to the striker's end while the ball was in the air, fell leg before wicket to the next ball. He batted in the most awful, almost black, pair of pads that are likely to be seen on a cricket field this season but he made 39 from 71 balls with five fours, mostly typical wristy sub-continental shots.

Of the remaining batsmen, only Peter Mercer at number three made runs and his powerful innings of 28 came to an end when he was stumped by Martin Hackett off the part-time bowling of skipper Mark Lomas.

Lomas also accounted for Dominic Sparkes, three -- when he hit a full toss straight at Chris Barrow at extra cover -- and with Sharp having Matt Clifford caught by Karl Marsland for 11 and Danny Massie superbly caught one-handed at point by Richard Lamb for one, the innings closed at 145-6.

Sharp was the most successful bowler with 4-15 from eight overs but Danson, on his first serious bowl for many a game, came out creditably with 0-20 from nine overs of tidy off-spin.

Danson and Chris Simcock opened the Blackpool innings and put on 34 before the former holed out at deep mid-on to Matt Dale off the bowling of Rafique, who finished his spell of left arm spin with 1-11 from eight overs.

That was, however, the extent of the Rainhill success as Simcock -- 51 not out from 106 balls -- and Lomas -- a sparkling 55 not out from only 65 balls with four fours -- took Blackpool to 146-1 and victory by nine wickets with three overs and one ball remaining.

Blackpool 146-1 Rainhill 145-6

Blackpool's Northern Premier League game at Leyland on Saturday was abandoned without a ball being bowled. Indeed, the only play in the First Division was at Netherfield where St Annes made a start and reached 24-0 before they, too, were rained off.