Royton clinch thrilling win

Local sport: Lake Garage CLL cricket

IF YOU want entertainment and close finishes in the Lake Garage CLL, the Paddock is the place to go.

Hot on the heels of their thrilling Wood Cup victory over Middleton, Royton were again involved in a tense battle when they entertained Milnrow in the league on Saturday.

The rain of the previous night continued into the morning, but a mopping-up operation enabled the match to go ahead - albeit late - with the umpires setting the game at 28 overs per side.

Milnrow took first guard and must have been well pleased with their 161 for nine.

Simon Brierley and Denny Hulme, both former Royton players, gave them a solid start with an opening stand of 41 before Matthew Hodson had the latter snapped up by Simon Webb for 18.

Professional Ammar Mahmood made only four before being bowled by his opposite number Luke Procter, but the arrival at the crease of Mark Fraser sparked fireworks.

The hard-hitting number four smashed 36 off only 12 balls, including two sixes off John Punchard, to give Milnrow valuable impetus and it was just as well that Punchard stopped his rampage before it got completely out of hand.

Fraser became the first of six victims for Punchard when he holed out to Mark Woodward and the veteran bowler and Royton paid man Procter managed to keep a check on the Milnrow run rate despite knocks of 30 from Steven Dryden and 26 from Jon Storey.

Punchard finished his 11 overs with six for 70, while Procter - who bowled throughout - ended with one for 69 and Hodson one for 22 from three overs.

Needing the best part of six an over, Royton had a lot to do, but overseas amateur Ryan Carters (42 from 63 balls) gave his side a solid platform from which to launch an all-out attack.

And it was number three Andrew Morris who took up the challenge in great style, the former second-teamer hitting 49 off only 35 deliveries as Royton kept up with the required run rate.

Milnrow still held out plenty of hope with Royton on 107 for three but, just as he had done the previous weekend, Procter timed his knock to perfection, steering the home side over the line with five balls and five wickets to spare.

Procter was unbeaten on 30 from 33 balls, while Andy Punchard hit a four off the only ball he faced.



WERNETH’S title challenge suffered another setback when they went down by 33 runs at the Coppice to new leaders Walsden.

In a match reduced to 32 overs, Walsden made a highly-respectable 165 for six, young Kristian Garland hitting 54 and James Rawlinson 56. Pick of the Werneth bowlers was Alan Durose with four for 16.

Werneth fancied their chances of getting the runs they needed for a morale-boosting victory, but Walsden professional Rasika Priyadarshana had other ideas, taking six for 53 with his right-arm pace bowling as the home side were skittled for 132.

Ryan Broad, Werneth’s stand-in professional, top scored with 50.


CROMPTON (at Monton and Weaste) and OLDHAM (home to Littleborough) did not see any action on Saturday, heavy rain washing out play at both venues.

Elsewhere, there were wins for Heywood, Norden and Rochdale.

Saturday scores: Heywood 105-3 (Hardman 44, Cross 41), Ashton 102 (Abid 45, Purser 3-22, Hardman 3-23); Rochdale 142-3 (Ayres 55), Radcliffe 138 (Avery 5-42); Royton 163-5 (Morris 49, Carters 42, Procter n.o. 30), Milnrow 161-9 (Punchard 6-70); Werneth 132 (Broad 50, Priyadarshana 6-53), Walsden 165-6 (K Garland 56, Rawlinson 54, Durose 4-16); Norden 174-8 (Symes 83, Madsen 4-54), Unsworth 173-8 (Madsen 69); No play in Middleton v Clifton, Monton and Weaste v Crompton and Oldham v Littleborough.

RAIN washed out every match on the opening night of the John Willies Lees Twenty/20 Competition.

Teams had bowl-outs or tossed a coin on Friday and the results were as follows:

North-West section - Heywood won toss v Norden; Rochdale won toss v Midleton. North-East - Littleborough won toss v Milnrow; Crompton beat Walsden 2-1 in bowl-out. South-West - Clifton won toss v Monton and Weaste; Radcliffe beat Unsworth 4-0 in bowl-out. South-East - Werneth won toss v Oldham; Royton won toss v Ashton.