Cricket: Ainsdale pile further misery on Huyton

May 27 2008 by David Jones, Liverpool Daily Post

AINSDALE ended a sequence of three defeats – but it meant further misery for Huyton, who suffered their seventh setback in eight games to leave them well adrift at the bottom of the Liverpool Competition First Division.

But the bottom club put up a brave fight, reaching 173 (Luke Connolly 39, Dave Hutton 36, Mal Swift 3-38) in reply to the home side’s 190-5 declared (41 overs), with Waqar Khan top scoring on 55. Mark Wilkie took 3-36.

Rakesh Patel took 8-16 off 11 overs, including a hat-trick, to skittle Rainford for 62 and give St Helens (204) a comfortable win. Adam Friar top scored with 67, while Pravin Tambe also enjoyed superb figures of 7-56.

The top of the table clash saw Leigh emerge with their sixth win on the trot in overcoming Newton le Willows by five wickets. Jaffar Nasir (4-41) and Alex Roussak (3-27) restricted the visitors to 158 (Mark Fearnley 47, Ian Lyon 38 not out), but Andy Batterley produced a best-of-the-season 68 en route to success.

A scrambled leg bye off the penultimate ball gave Orrell Red Triangle a two wicket win in a thriller with Skelmersdale. Andrew Mercer’s medium quick spell of 6-51 pegged back the visitors for 188 (Jonas Smith 69, 14 fours), but Richard Smith (65, 11 fours) and Orrell skipper Chris Riley (33) edged them home. Hemil Watekar ended with 5-47.

Northop Hall skipper Danny Nolan finished with incredible figures of 5-4 off six overs as Wavertree crashed for just 67 (Ata-ur-Rehman 4-33) after electing to bat. Nolan also hit 34 not out in the nine wicket battering.

Liverpool’s game with Sefton Park fizzled out into a tame draw after the latter battled from 84-6 to 184 (Jimmy Titmuss 4-50, Daniel Jackson 3-37). The home side finished on 125-6 (Jackson 50, David Baird 4-58). It was a close affair at Wigan, where the home side totalled 212-7 declared (Andy Ford 73) against Highfield, who replied with 207-6 (Sean Casham 80, Chris Liptrot 50).