Tonge 1sts Away 2013

Westhoughton 1st XI arrived at Tonge on a rain-soaked Saturday afternoon with few prospects of playing, but this soon changed as the rain (mostly) stayed away and the Tonge players got to work sorting the wicket and mopping up.
With Westhoughton missing key players such as Paul Hart, Ian Pilkington, Jason Scheepers, Kieran Paisley, Dan Reeve and Nathan Blair for various reasons, there were call ups for Kai Hodgkiss, Charlie Honour, Matt Fanning, Matt Trow and Glenn Bullock. And they did not disappoint.
Westhoughton captain Rob Houghton won the toss and elected to field first, and despite a high steeping catch being dropped by Glenn, Westhoughton found a breakthrough with the score on 28 as pro Qaiser Abbas picked up the first of yet another five wicket haul (5-29 from 20 overs) as he tied down one end for half of Tonge's reduced 40 overs. Qaiser was supported by Kieran Edwards (1-42 from 13 overs), Rob Brown (0-9 from 3 overs) and Matt Fanning (2-17 from 4 overs). The other wicket came as Dan Naylor ran out one of the Tonge batters with a sharp throw, rounding off a very good fielding display that saw 4 catches, 1 of which went to stand-in wicket keeper Atiq Uz-Zaman who also picked up 2 stumpings in KP's absense.
In response to Tonge's 98-9 from 40 overs, Westhoughton lost Atiq in the first over for 0 with the score on 3. Glenn came to the wicket and hit five 4's on his way to 21 before being caught. Rob Houghton soon fell for 9 and with the rain approaching, it looked as though Westhoughton would miss out on 6 points as they left the field 54-3 from 14 overs. Once play resumed, Dan Naylor (19*) provided support for Qaiser who finished with 43* from 41 balls, ending the game in style with a 6, to secure the 6 points for victory.
Westhoughton face Tonge at home in the NKO on Sunday with a scheduled start time of 1pm.