History Amost Repeats

Accrington 179 all out

Church 162 all out

Acc 12 pts, Church 5 pts

In an uncannily similar match to last weekend's epic win over Lowehouse, Church came up just short after giving champions Accrington a real scare.

Seemingly out of contention at 97 for 8 chasing 180, the boys again showed what you can acheive by occupying the crease and not throwing the towel in.

When Accrington's Simon Hanson clung on to a Sam Tucker loft to mid-off, it meant the viisitors had to settle for 5 bonus points - had Tucker hit it a few inches higher or Hanson not grasped on at the second attempt it might have been toal panic stations for Dave Ormerod and co.

Church had Padiham pro Kashif Siddique subbing and it was largely the efforts of him and Andy Bentley which restricted Accy to 179 all out.

Andrew put in a herculean effort in the blistering heat to take 5 for 72 with slow-left-armer Siddique snapping up 3 for 42 from an economical spell.

Graham Lloyd's top score of 49 was a marathon effort eked out run by run, oozing respect for the Church attack.

When Church chased, Ryan North and Saj both failed to open their account perishing leg before  - Ryan's decision looked a particularly ghastly ruling.

After Adam Greeenwood fell Sykes and the pro  looked to be rebuilding splendidly until a two minutes of madness unravelled the good work.

The pro ran Sykes out and, insanely, repeated the folly to give himself up next ball going for a second leg bye. Utter madness.

After Sam Holt went, Levi Wolfenden and captain Philip Gilrane got their heads down to add 33 before, infuriatingly, Phil made it three free gifts to Accy with another run out.

But the drama was only beginning.When Andrew Bentley joined Levi - a youngster who is looking more like a seasoned performer by the week - batting all of a sudden loooked a less hazardous occupation than it had all day.

Bonus points were again the target but as one, two, were chalked off it was dare-to-dream time.

But Levi played his first rash shot for about 3 weeks and fell, then after more heroics from the last pair, Tucker was caught with some luck in the deep.

Great stuff from the lower order - you can never be happy to lose but a healthy haul of points reflects the fact that there were two sides truly contesting this affair.

Levi Wolfenden 38

Andrew Bentley 29 not out

Kashif Siddique 23

Andrew Bentley 18-72-5

Kasif Siddique 18.1-42-3

Philip Gilrane 7-2-25-1