Lancs County League U18's v Central Lancs League U18's 

Denton West all rounder John Barnett took the plaudits with a match winning spell of 5 for 15 which saw the Lancashire County League U18's defeat the Central Lancs League U18's by 67 runs at Unsworth CC on Sunday.

Having lost the toss on a day when the groundsman had battled for 5 hours to get the ground fit, Lancs County were asked to take first knock.

Skipper McAllister & Barnett were soon back in the shed as the visitors were reduced to 45-2. Toft was riding his luck but scored a gritty 41. Some aggressive hitting from Denton's Yanak Patel (41) along with some sloppy bowling & fielding from the home side saw us take tea with a score of 163 all out, which given the conditions looked to be a decent total.

The bowling reply could not have been better as the home side were reduced to 29 for 4 in reply as opening bowlers Mike Batty took 2 for 7 from 6 overs and the impressive Jordan Williams bowled 9 overs on the reel taking one wicket and conceding just 17 runs.

Two mini partnerships for the fifth & six wickets threatened the possibility of a close finish however Will Hargreaves 2 for 16 & John Barnett had other ideas.

Wickets tumbled as Barnett got the bit between his teeth and he was ably assisted by a combination of tight outfielding and good glove work from Jamie Williams claiming two of Barney's victims as he rattled the stumps three more times finishing off the tail and  producing match winning figures of 5.2-0-15-5.

The lads travel next to the Ribblesdale league on the 10th August for the last of the group games in buoyant mood following two fine wins.

Yesterday also saw a great turn out of support from friends and family and for the last fixture I will be organising a coach with supporters being welcome. There will be limited places however so as soon as I have venue details I will publish the travel details on this site.

Gary O'Brien