Cup Exit for First XI

Westhoughton faced Bradshaw in the Hamer Cup Quarter Final, looking to try and defeat the side lying second in the league having overcome league-leaders Little Lever on Saturday.
Having won the toss, captain Rob Houghton elected to field first and this decision looked a good one as Kieran Edwards picked up two early wickets (2-25 from his first 5 overs) to leave Westhoughton in a strong position, Bradshaw 38-2 from 10 overs. This was the last real breakthrough for some time as Saeed Anwar Jnr went about scoring runs with relative ease, giving away no chances before being stumped by Kieran Paisley for 97 off the bowling of Qaiser Abbas. Abbas took 3-54 from his 20 overs, continuing his outstanding form with the ball. Unfortunately for the hosts, they only took 5 wickets in the 50 overs as Bradshaw finished on 229 thanks to some late runs, including 43 in the last 3 overs.
In response, Westhoughton reached 45-1 after losing Atiq Uz-Zaman for 4 when the score was on 10. However, Rob Houghton and Ian Pilkington (both 17), Dan Naylor (3) and Qaiser Abbas (4) all fell within 5 overs as the hosts slumped to 53-5. A partnership of 61 between Kieran Paisley (38 from 46 balls) and Rob Brown (35 from 76 balls) left the hosts with an outside chance of victory, but when these two were dismissed, any realistic hope looked to have gone. Kieran Edwards (33 from 22 balls) did his best to try and drag the hosts to victory, but with the overs dwindling, Westhoughton were all out for 175 with just under four overs left.