Enfield v Lowerhouse
After a rain assisted defeat to Rawtenstall the previous day, Lowerhouse chalked up their 1st league success away at Enfield.
Recent encounters between the two sides have not been short of dramatic moments and this one was no different. The 1st major talking point came in the 3rd over when Ben Heap was given out LBW for 1 even though it appeared that the ball made contact with the bat as well as the pads. Jack Edgar followed shortly afterwards as Fazal dismantled his middle stump. This brought Finch and Pienaar together and they started to get the innings going with some steady scoring as both looked well set. Finch just missed out on 50, going for 44 but Pienaar did claim his 1st half century for the club as part of a 102 run partnership. Pienaar departed on 69 after amassing 10 fours in his innings. After Walker (9) and Bleazard (3) lost their wickets close together (just after a rain delay), Joe Hawke entered the crease and took a liking to Enfield’s professional Coetsee with some mighty hitting as he sauntered to 50 not out off just 32 balls. During his innings, he also passed 1000 Lancashire League runs. Lowerhouse finished on 214/7 after 48 overs.
Enfield started slightly quicker in their innings but still lost an early wicket when Pienaar removed Bedford for 7 as he hit it straight down the throat of Finch. Coetsee was next and, along with Greg Jones, began to increase the run rate. However, at 56/1, we had our next big moment. Pienaar thought he has his man as he hit Coetsee’s stumps but it was given as a front ball no ball. After this, the South African continued to accumulate the runs and reached 50 just after the drinks break with a number of boundaries as Enfield looked strong favourites. Paddy Martin, however, had other ideas. He rushed Coetsee into a rash sweep that flew into the air and landed in the hands of Joe Hawke. The knockout blow was landed when danger man Adam Bracewell departed for 6 after a fantastic catch on the boundary edge by Finch (would have been a certain 6 otherwise and kept Enfield in the game). Martin took 1 more wicket to finish with 4/38 in a very important spell. Matt Walker was given a late spell and made the result official with 4 wickets in just 3 overs to bowl Enfield out for 157 and pass 50 Lancashire League wickets in the process as Lowerhouse won by a margin of 57 runs with 4.1 overs still left in the innings.
MOM was Paddy Martin for his 4/38. The ‘House host current league leaders East Lancs on Sunday 4th May before embarking on LCB Cup action the following day at home to Heywood.
