Fine Form Continues

Tonge arrived at St George's Oval with mixed form, going up against a side who had won five of their last six league games. Despite winning the toss first, it looked as though Tonge may have made the wrong decision as they were soon 36-2 thanks to Kieran Edwards (1-20 off 7) making an early breakthrough, followed up by a direct hit run out from Dan Naylor, he obviously had somewhere to be! Tonge's Pro Ali Azmat lead the frustration for the Westhoughton bowlers as he batted for over two hours to reach 74 before being caught by Rob Brown off the bowling of Qaiser Abbas, the third time that combination was seen in the scorebook in this game. Qaiser finished with 3-70 from his 25 overs. A particular highlight of the afternoon was the fourth hat-trick of the season for Westhoughton's first team bowlers, this time Atiq-Uz-Zaman adding his name to the honours board. Atiq had a caught behind, bowled and then lbw to finish with 4-33 from his 11 overs.
In response Westhoughton lost Glenn Bullock (1) early on, but Atiq added 42 alongside Rob Brown (32) to push the score onto 75-2 before Atiq was bowled, much to his annoyance. At 96-2 after 26 overs, the home side looked to be on course for a comfortable victory. Two overs later, Westhoughton were 96-5 as Rob, Qaiser (8) and Dan Naylor (0) had all been dismissed. Ian Pilkington (32*) and Kieran Paisley (14) shared a 41 partnership before KP was run out. Rob Houghton (9*) saw Westhoughton over the line with Pilky and another 6 point victory was secured.
Today (Sunday 28th July) sees Westhoughton travel to local rivals Horwich, looking for their first victory against them in a couple of seasons.