IT WAS a shot worthy of a World Series winner. High wide and handsome, it soared into the blue and Dave Thompson simply stood back and admired it.

There wasn't much admiration from the anguished supporters of title-chasing East Lancs who saw their hopes of catching Haslingden fall with a thud.

Thompson's six off the second last ball gave Bacup victory over East Lancs while the leaders were crumbling away to Todmorden and now the Meadows men are seven points adrift.

Pro Billy Stelling was as disappointed as everyone else and blamed the team's poor fielding. "Catches win matches. We've found that out the hard way," he admitted.

Lowerhouse, Enfield and Colne all closed up on the leaders.

This weekend East Lancs are away to Nelson and then home to Rishton, while Haslingden take on Burnley and then travel to Ramsbottom.

RESULTS: Rawtenstall 210, Colne 212-5 (5pts); Ramsbottom 181, Enfield 188-8 (5); Burnley 206-9, Church 218-5 (4); Todmorden 181 (5), Haslingden 119 (1); Accrington 84, Lowerhouse 86-4 (5); Nelson 203-5 (4), Rishton 202-5.

Saturday fixtures: Accrington v Ramsbottom; Bacup v Enfield; Haslingden v Burnley; Lowerhouse v Church; Nelson v East Lancs; Rishton v Enfield; Todmorden v Colne.

Sunday: Burnley v Nelson, Church v Accrington, Colne v Lowerhouse, East Lancs v Rishton, Enfield v Todmorden, Ramsbottom v Haslingden, Rawtenstall v Bacup.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.