T20 hopefuls face crunch

CRICKET:

THREE of our local clubs will be aiming to make up lost ground when they resume their John Willies Lees Twenty20 campaign tomorrow night (6.15pm).

Crompton were beaten by Walsden in their opening North-East group game on April 29.

So victory at home to a powerful Littleborough side tomorrow is essential if Carl Taylor’s men are to retain a realistic chance of progressing to the quarter-finals on Friday, July 8.

Oldham lost at home to Werneth in the South-East section, but will fancy their chances of getting some points on the board at Ashton.

One man looking forward to this game in particular will be skipper Chris McDonnell, who smashed 123 on his last visit to Rayner Lane for a league fixture.

Royton’s T20 challenge began in luckless fashion when the weather hit their South-East section match at home to Ashton.

The verdict was decided by the toss of a coin and skipper Alan Durose chose wrong.

That means Royton will probably need to win at Werneth tomorrow night and beat Oldham the following Friday to go through.

As for Werneth, they are very much in the box seat in this section following that victory at Oldham.

They can afford to lose tomorrow – although skipper Andy Walker will not be thinking that way – yet still reach the last eight with an expected home victory over Ashton in their last fixture.

Everything is still to play for and the prospect of some money-spinning evenings in July should be more than enough motivation for the clubs to get stuck in tomorrow.