CLITHEROE Cricket Club Under 15s ended the season on a high after the winning the NatWest National Club Championship.

The finals day of the Lancashire county stage of the championship took place at Astley and Tyldesley CC.

Clitheroe were drawn to play Westhoughton in the second semi-final.

Westhoughton won the toss and elected to bowl. Clitheroe ended on 132-5 with performances of note being Charlie Dewhurst 49 and Harry Lang 44.

In reply, Westhoughton were restricted to 77-9 with C Birtwell-Jones claiming three wickets for nine runs as Clitheroe won by 55 runs.

In the final, they were up against. Leigh.

Once again, the opposition won the toss and, as with the semi final, Clitheroe were put in to bat.

Leigh kept a tight hold of Clitheroe in the first few overs with the first wicket falling in the fourth over.

Attacking fielding created pressure on the batsmen who responded by running quick singles and the score was 62-1 at the halfway point of 10 overs.

Lang and Dewhurst helped move the total along with an impressive a 79-run partnership before Lang had to retire on an unbeaten 50.

He was closely followed by Dewhurst who retired on unbeaten on 52, two overs later.

The pair helped Clitheroe reach 115-1 with 2.4 overs remaining before two new batters at the crease took the total along to 129-2 at the close of the innings.

In reply, Leigh needed a strong start but Clitheroe came out fighting and made an early breakthrough, claiming the first wicket in the third over with just eight runs on the board.

Clitheroe’s bowlers continued to put pressure on their opponents, showing equal prowess in the field as Leigh had done earlier and claimed a second wicket to make the score 50-2 after nine overs.

Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals and in the 17th over, Leigh were on 81-6 needing 49 off 18 balls to win.

But they fell 39 runs short of victory and Clitheroe earned the right to represent Lancashire in the National competition after a superb performance.