Weather Ruins 1sts Chances

Westhoughton faced Astley Bridge knowing that victory could more or less guarentee a place in next years LKO. Astley Bridge won the toss and chose to bat, but lost two early wickets. A decent partnership developed but took plenty of time to get going as the two batters were at the crease together in the 14th over at 28-2, and departed with the score on 82-3 in the 37th over. The batters tried to push on at this late stage but Qaiser Abbas (4-70 from 25 overs) and Kieran Edwards (5-73 from 25 overs, career best figures) made sure Bridge were restrcited to 145-9 from their 50 overs. Atiq-Uz-Zaman also had 5 victims behind the stumps with 1 catch and 4 stumpings.
Due to a slight interruption in the first innings, Westhoughton required a reduced total of 135 from 44 overs. More rain followed and this target was reduced to 115 from 33 overs. Westhoughton reached 43-0 before falling to 43-2 as Paul Hart, promoted up the order to try and push the run rate, fell for 22 and Atiq followed him straight back for 0. Further rain meant Westhoughton faced the improbable task of scoring 48 runs from only 3 overs to surpass a target of 75 from 12 overs, and despite the best efforts of Rob Houghton (26*) and Qaiser Abbas (17 from 9 balls) the game ended in a draw/match abandoned situation. This left the lads disappointed as victory would surely have been there's under normal circumstances and cost them vital points in the push for the LKO place.