Finals day hopes vanish

CRASH OF ASH . . . Werneth batsman Ali Muzzaffer is unable to make his ground in the Twenty20 clash against Milnrow.

CRICKET:

WERNETH and Royton’s hopes of reaching the Lees Bitter Twenty20 Competition finals day have been snuffed out.

The former had home advantage against Milnrow, but went down by six wickets.

Royton found Littleborough much too strong, the home side winning by eight wickets.

Werneth took first guard at the Coppice and made a respectable 135 for nine .

But Werneth were unable to defend that score as Milnrow reached 139 for four.

Royton were never in the hunt at Littleborough, collapsing to 97 all out.

Littleborough reached their target for the loss of only two wickets as Chris Schofield took control with 53 and professional Clinton Perren chipped in with 30.

Elsewhere, there were wins for Unsworth and Rochdale.

The semi-finals and finals will be played at Rochdale on Sunday, July 21.