Hamer Cup Frustration

Westhoughton 1st XI went into their Hamer Cup tie with Greenmount knowing they had a tough test ahead of them, but were confident they could come up with what some would describe as an upset. What happened turned out to be one of the longest days of the season as Greenmounts opening partnership of Senior (116*) and Kerr (97) made the bowlers toil for 45 overs before Kerr fell to Kieran Edwards (1-33 from 9 overs) with the score on 205. Qaiser Abbas would pick up a wicket to finish with 1-84 from his 20 overs whilst the third and final wicket was a run out courtesy of Dan Naylor. Greenmount finished on 243-3 from 50 overs.
In reply the hosts were always behind the run rate due to the tight bowling from Phil Heaton who had 6 maidens in his first 8 overs, finishing with 2-17 from 10 overs. He had dismissed Rob Houghton (9) and Ian Pilkington (6). This left Atiq uz-Zaman and Qaiser Abbas at the crease with the score 28-2 from 17 overs. Whilst there was somewhat of a revival as Atiq reached 50 and Qaiser 45, the run rate was always climbing. Wickets fell at regular interviews as only Ste Parker (25) and Sean Dunning (27) reached double figures thanks to some hard-hitting boundary scoring. Westhoughton finished on a credible 185 all out with 4.1 overs left in their innings. A disappointing result for the lads who turn their attention to next weekends hectic schedule which has league on Saturday, LKO on Sunday (Saddleworth away) and ECB T/20 on Monday (Greenmount home).