Foster's Lancashire League: Lowerhouse move clear at the top (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Foster's Lancashire League: Lowerhouse move clear at the top

8:53am Monday 18th June 2012 in League news By Matt Donlan, Sports reporter

ALL-round strength shone through again for reigning champions and Foster’s Lancashire League leaders Lowerhouse as they opened up an 11-point gap over the chasing pack yesterday.

Last weekend Charlie Cottam’s men and Haslingden were the only teams to be hit by the weather as their game was rained off.

As a result their lead was cut to one point by Church – but Craig Fergusson’s men were beaten yesterday as Lowerhouse were winning at Todmorden to stretch their advantage.

Batting first at Centre Vale, Todmorden posted 144-9 with Joey Hawke bowling superbly to claim 4-35 from 16 overs.

That could have been a challenge after the recent rain but the House got home as Jonny Whitehead again showed his tremendous promise with 51, while pro Francois Haasbroek (32 not out) and in-form veteran Chris Bleazard (36 not out) both dug in to steer their side home by five wickets. A Ramsbottom spinner claimed five wickets as they ended the impressive run of Church but for once it was not the left-arm artistry of Jonathan Fielding that did the damage.

Instead the star of the show was Dale Gabriel, who claimed 5-39 in the day’s big game at West End.

Those efforts saw Church bowled out for 159 - and had it not been for a fine 60 from Levi Wolfenden, 38 from Lloyd Aspin and 20 from professional Saeed Anwar it would have been much worse.

In reply Muhammed Jamil reduced Rammy to 8-2 but professional Pieter Malan and David Bell shared a 151-run stand to take them to the brink.

Malan made 94, while Bell hit 55 as Ramsbottom got home with more than four overs to go.

Accrington repeated their Worsley Cup win over Colne with a 31-run win at Thorneyholme Road to stay in third place, while Enfield moved up to fourth above Todmorden as they beat Rawtenstall.

Joe Wrigley made a half-century and but Werner Coetsee suffered a rare failure as Enfield were bowled out for 168 with Keith Roscoe claiming another five-wicket haul.

But no-one could get going for Vinny Hanson’s men and they were all out for 112.

East Lancashire’s fine run came to an end as Burnley claimed just a third win in a tight match.

Pro Adnan Rasool claimed six wickets as East Lancs were 121 all out before Qasim Ali continued his run of form to steer Steve Brunt’s men to victory by five wickets.

Bacup chased down Rishton’s 199-7 to win by two wickets thanks to solid contributions in the middle order despite a five-wicket haul for Dan Salpietro, while Nelson claimed a fine win at Haslingden to shoot up into eighth place.

Neil Thompson’s men restricted Haslingden to 167-7 with Lewis McIntosh making 52 and then shone with the bat to get home with eight wickets down for their fourth success of the campaign. Pro Shahzaib Hasan top scored with 49.

Comments are closed on this article.