Haslingden v Lowerhouse

Lowerhouse beat one of their main title rivals on Saturday in a hard fought contest at Bentgate.

The visitors bowled first on a very green looking wicket. Openers Phil Hayes and Graham Knowles got off to a strong start, scoring at 5 runs an over but both were gone by the end of the 7th over. Hayes (13) gave Chris Bleazard a straight forward catch at square leg and Knowles (8) could only find Paddy Martin, both off the bowling of Cobus Pienaar. Alex Coleman lasted just 7 balls for his 1 as Joe Martin claimed a catch off Joe Hawke. Professional Brenton Parchment didn’t shine either as he was given out LBW on 11 to Pienaar. Fergus Bailey and Matt Walker both made further inroads into the batting line up by taking the wickets of Matt Griffin (7) and Anthony Harris (11) respectively. Lee Ingham (29) was the only batsman likely to get anything approaching a decent score as the bowlers were picking off Haslingden with ease. Jack Taylor (1), Jordan Shannon (1), Jake Neary (2*) and Jack Sudworth (1) were unable to lend him any proper support as Hawke and Pienaar returned to end the innings. Haslingden finished on a lowly 105 all out with 10.4 overs still to go. Pienaar (4/33) and Hawke (3/20) had the best bowling figures.

Lowerhouse’s response started almost the same way as the hosts as they lost early wickets. Charlie Cottam (6) was caught at first slip by Shannon off the bowling of Parchment, Jonny Whitehead (1) attempted a clip down to third man off Griffin but picked out Knowles and Pienaar (4) suffered role reversal as Parchment got him LBW. Ben Heap started to make things progress before edging one to Coleman at slip for 14. Joe Martin (0) faced just 4 balls as Griffin was given the latest LBW decision. Walker and Hawke, however, were managing to take the game to the bowlers and get the visitors back on top. Walker, in particular, was playing some really good shots but was unfortunate to not see it to the end as he was bowled out for 34 by Neary. Dec Bailey suffered his first failure of the season as he could manage 5. Chris Bleazard (5*) played an anchor role as Hawke took charge and guided Lowerhouse to victory in the 30th over, finishing with 2 sublime fours. The innings finished on 107/5.

MOM was Joe Hawke for his 3/20 and 25*