Craig's a star on a lively track (11 August 1999)

11 August 1999

Craig's a star on a lively track

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph

The rainfall on Friday evening after the unusually long dry spell meant that there were some lively wickets for the weekend fixtures in the Accrington and District League.

Attock remain in pole position at the top of the A Division after beating Haslingden Methodists for the second time. Raza Khan hit 54 for the league leaders who were dismissed for 139. The wily left arm spin of Craig Sudworth earned him 5-33. Simon Lord (42) again batted well for Methodist, but it was the slow left armer's day as Liquat Khan (6-38) and Khyber Shah (2-35) hit back for Attock to avenge once more their opening day disaster of five all out.

Whalley Road moved closer to Millennium after beating them by seven wickets at Wilsons, Dave Halstead almost doubled his wicket tally for the season, taking 6-30 as Millennium were dismissed for 79. Nadeem Ahsraf edged closer to the league batting record with an impressive 27. John Dewhurst (25 not out) and Mick Johnson (25) made sure there were no slip-ups for Whalley Road who scored their fourth successive win.

Manchester Road remain rock bottom after losing by 16 runs to Taverners A. Mark Swift continued his good run with 44 for Taverners who just managed a batting bonus point at 151-7. A rare half century by wicketkeeper Rick Bailey, who scored 58 was not enough as Shabir Faizal took 4-25 for Taverners, who still have an outside chance of the title. Taverners B won the match of the day in the B Division to move four points clear of Peel Park whom they beat by 25 runs on a lively wicket on Highams.

Some quick repair work was needed on Saturday by groundsman Gordon Mason after half a dozen youths with golf clubs had literally hacked the prepared wicket and the bottom square on Highams to pieces. Taverners batted first and made 124 all out, Jack Taylor hitting 26 before Ian Jackson bowled him from around the wicket. Jackson, who took 5-65 and Tony Teasdale who took 5-52, bowled unchanged as they extracted great life out of what one well-known player described as a sporting wicket.

Peel Park, depleted by holidays, had persuaded former Accrington captain Billy Rawstron to make another encore, a ploy that almost paid dividends as she headed the reply with 34. Only Tony Teasdale put the result in doubt with 44, David Swift's 5-58 being his best return of the season for Taverners B. Accrington A had a close shave against Everest, eventually overcoming them for the fourth time this season in a high-scoring encounter on Highams. Accrington made 184-6, Iftikar Younis hitting 49 and Alven Burrows scoring 42 including his 2,000th run for Accrington.

Everest looked to be on the way to a first win of the season, until an inspired bowling change by Mick Donnelly to recall 14-year-old Sajad Sadiq who took two vital wickets in the final overs. Shafaq Hussain hit 46 for the Great Harwood team in a match that saw the highest aggregate score of the season.

Results - A Division: Attock 139, Haslingden Meth 100; Manchester Road 135-8, Taverners A 151-7; Whalley Road 81-3, Millennium 79.

B Division: Accrington A 184-6, Everest 177-8; Taverners B 124, Peel Park 99.

Harry Wood Cup Final: Attock 171-3, Taverners A 175-9.

Source :: The Lancashire Evening Telegraph