Fellow strugglers Bacup and Rawtenstall clashed at Lanehead where Bacup won the toss and asked Rawtenstall to bat first. Early wickets fell to opening bowlers Sam Lord and Liam Naylor and Rawtenstall found themselves in trouble at 86 for 6. However captain for the day Rizwan Shafiq held firm making an excellent 56 and Abbas Ahmad made a very useful 35 with some lusty leg side hitting as Rawtenstall made 150 all out. Ben Lord took 4 for 41 and sub pro Chigrat Khurana 2 for 28 in his 15 overs. Everything looked plain sailing for Bacup as the sub pro and Simon Newbitt took the score to 31. However the opening pair departed for 19 and 18 respectively to young bowler Ishaq Hussain who went on to take a career best 5 for 21. Skipper Aaron Fielding with 23 was the only other batsman to get double figures as the rest of the order failed miserably and Bacup were bundled out for 100 in only 27 overs. Rawtenstall now move one point ahead of Bacup in the table with one game to go.
Bacup second eleven enjoyed much more success in their encounter at Bacup Road. Rawtenstall scored at a decent rate but were dismissed for 161 in 35 overs with Dom Boardman, Sean Benson and Luke Donovan amongst the wickets. In reply Bacup eased their way to victory. Andrew Knights (45) and Scott Thompson (60 not out) put on a century opening stand and skipper John Syers made 32 not out as victory was secured with 13 overs to spare. Bacup seconds go into their last match with a chance of getting into the top half of the league and playing in division one next season.
It was an excellent end to a successful season for the third eleven as they won both of their phase two fixtures to finish seventh overall. Both were comprehensive victories. Firstly at Haslingden where the opposition were rolled over for just 88. Spinners Sean Benson with 3 for 10 and Josh Holt with 3 for12 ripped through the Haslingden order after Luke Donovan and Niall Boardman had made early inroads. Victory was achieved for the loss of only two wickets with Chris Gansler making 39 and Tom Sumner 21 not out.
This was followed by a similarly impressive victory over Clitheroe as the visitors made only 76 with the wickets spread out. Thirteen year old Charlie Gansler was particularly impressive taking 2 for 6 in his five overs. Bacup cruised to victory by seven wickets in only 13.5 overs with Chris Gansler again in the runs with 39 not out and Sean Benson showing his all rounder credentials with an eye catching knock of 29 not out. Skipper Callum Jones is to be congratulated for his fine efforts in leading the team this season.
