HAYDOCK CC were held to a draw by fellow title contenders Litherland at Lyme Park on Saturday.

After winning the toss, Litherland surprisingly asked Haydock to take first knock.

This looked to be a good decision as the Yickers lost opener Brookhouse early on.

This brought Scott Pickavance to the wicket and he continued his fine form in his first season back at the club with a fine innings of 42 which provided the backbone of another stylish Haydock batting display.

Skipper Dave Cross scored an entertaining (30) at the head of the order.

But Aussie Adrian Barr stole the show with another high-class batting performance stroking the ball to all parts of the ground falling just eight short of his second ton of the season.

This enabled Haydock to declare at 220-9.

After tea, Litherland took to the crease and what followed will probably prove to be a valuable lesson for Haydock.

Litherland decided early on that the home sides score was out of their reach and set their stall out to play out a draw and limit the damage in the points stakes at the top of the table.

Haydock fought manfully to prise out the Litherland batsmen all the bowlers being worthy of mention (Barr, Johnson, Bushell and youngster Clark).

The situation produced the strange sight of Aidrian Barr bowling leg spin in the hope of buying some wickets but the Litherland innings closed at 135-4.

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