Eagley 1sts Home

Westhoughton 1st XI almost ended their winless streak against Eagley, the last side they beat in the BCL. After winning the toss, Eagley elected to bat first and this decision was justified as they reached 106-0 after 27 overs, a perfect platform for them to post a huge score. However, the momentum was soon to swing in Westhoughton's favour as Ste Parker picked up four wickets in three overs to leave Eagley 124-4 with both openers dismissed, as well as two of Eagley's more dangerous batters. Unfortunately for Westhoughton, Eagley's Pro remained at the crease through that collapse of wickets and stayed there until the end as he reached 47* from 54 balls, providing the anchor role as Eagley struggled against some tight bowling from Parker, Edwards (1-36 from 10.1) and Hart (1-58 from 15.5). Eagley finished with a solid 193-7 from their 50 overs.
In response, Westhoughton once again lost a couple of early wickets with Rob Houghton and Stephen Murdoch both being dismissed with only 6 runs on the board. This brought Ian Pilkington and Nigel Heaton together who shared a 66 partnership that lasted 22 overs before Heaton was caught on 24 trying to go over the top to increase the run rate that was steadily growing. This brought Dan Naylor to the crease and him and Pilkington shared a 36 partnership before another miscommunication between the two left both batters stranded at one end, Pilkington forced to go for a hard-fought-for 61 from 104 balls. By this stage, Westhoughton needed 86 from 12 overs with 6 wickets left. Big hitters would arrive at the crease, but would soon depart as Ste Parker, Rob Brown and Kieran Paisley all tried to get the scoring rate up but ultimately would pay the price for needing to play big shots. A late surge by Kieran Edwards (18* from 13 balls) had Westhoughton fans on the edge of the seat but unfortunately today was not their day. Plenty of positives to take for the lads despite the result!