Match Report:
Women's XI
Burnley vs Edgeworth
The women's second game of the season was a quick affair that unfortunately ended in a Burnley defeat down at Haffner’s Turf Moor. Burnley were missing several regular players, including a few who were missing from their victory over Church a few weeks earlier, having to make the best of the situation with new players and a weakened team.
The visitors won the toss and inserted Burnley to bat first. Iqra Shafqat and Emily Brunt took the responsibility to open the batting and got the ladies off to a decent start, reaching 15 before Iqra fell to a good catch on the boundary at square-leg, at the start of the fourth over. Unfortunately the wickets fell in sharp order once the initial breakthrough came, without many runs being added either. From being 15-0 after 19 deliveries, the women were then bowled out for 26 from 61 deliveries. Iqra top scored with 10, the only player to reach double digits, on a scorecard that had 6 ducks. Holly Burton remained not out on debut.
The reply began with Iqra and Hannah Hulme opening the bowling. Scoreboard pressure wasn't a factor so it was up to the girls to build as much pressure in the field as they could. Trying to keep the game going for as long as possible. The girls did well given the state of the game and managed to stretch it out to last for 27 deliveries before the opposition reached their total, without the loss of any wickets, though Iqra did drop a chance straight to her at midwicket, should have used two hands.
Let’s hope for a stronger outing when they have their next game.
Match Report:
Third XI
Burnley vs Haslingden
Our third team close the gap to the league leaders Haslingden thanks to a tight game won down at Haffner’s Turf Moor, it was first vs second in the league with a gap of 33 points between the teams before play started, Burnley needing a victory to keep some sort of pressure on Haslingden in first place. After taking 12 points from the fixture, with Hassy managing to claim 3 bowling points, the gap is down to 24 points, with Gareth and his team still having a game in hand to play.
Gareth won the toss and elected to field first, with a strong team to back up his decision. His decision was a good one, backed up by the opening bowling of himself and son Oscar. Young Oscar went for 11 runs in his opening spell of four overs, as well as claiming two wickets in a double wicket maiden, to leave the visitors 2-2 after 18 deliveries. A small recovery was made, but two pieces of excellent fielding again dragged Haslingden back, reaching 20-2, when Aarav made a stunning save at cover, to catch a Hassy batter short when going for a quick single, and then Joe Hodgkinson behind the stumps taking a tumbling grab off the bowling of Ishaq Khan, reducing Haslingden to 32-4.
The visitors again put on a small partnership, the fifth wicket pairing was the biggest of the innings, worth 28 to bring Hassy up to 60-4, but the remaining 6 wickets then fell for only 17 runs. Ishaq opened the door by breaking the partnership, and then taking his third of the game in his following over. A period of 31 balls followed, which saw only 3 runs occur, with Burnley keeping things tight, building pressure that eventually saw Gaz strike, to send the batsman back for a 21 ball duck. That was followed up by Leo Tomlinson, bowling in senior cricket for the first time in three years, claiming his maiden senior wicket with a sharp catch from his Captain in the slips. 7 runs came in the next 24 deliveries, before Oscar finished off the tail, taking 2 wickets in an over again to bowl Haslindgen out for 77 inside 29 overs. Gareth bowled well for only one wicket, going for only 14 runs in his eight overs, whilst Ishaq claimed 3 wickets for 18 from 7 overs, it was Oscar Halley who finished with the best figures, though, 6.4-3-15-4, starting and finishing the innings strong with wickets.
The Burnley chase began well, Aarav Neherkar and Phil Edmonson taking 35 off the total after only 50 deliveries, before Aarav was caught out with a skied top edge, Leo then came to the middle and carried on the attack, raising the score to 62-2 after 70 balls. Needing only 16 to win with 8 wickets would seem simple, but the visitors fought back and showed their league leading character. Simon was dismissed first, followed by Phil, both given LBW by a suspect home umpire. Hassan Sadaqat and Abel Litto found scoring difficult, 4 wickets fell for 6 runs to leave Burnley 66-5. Abel managed to find a boundary to cut the deficit down to only 8 runs, but Joe Hodgkinson was then dismissed. Runs and overs were not an issue, wickets were causing pressure though, thankfully Ishaq came in and settled the nerves. Despite losing Abel when the hosts were still 5 short, Ishaq scored 9 from only 2 balls to take Burnley over the line with 21.5 overs still left in the innings.
Aarav finished with the highest score at the top of the order, racing to 25 from 24, with Leo hitting a quick 18 from 12. Phil showed more patience, lasting 39 balls to finish with 17 to his score. None of the other Burnley batters managed double figures with the bat, in large part down to Joe Blomley who claimed the best figures in the match, 6-15 from 5 overs, also the best figures for Hassy threes this season. But Burnley managed to triumph and keep Haslingden somewhat within reach at the top of the league for now.
Match Report:
Second XI
Burnley vs Nelson.
A tight finish down at Haffner’s Turf Moor saw Nelson eek out a victory to follow up their Junior Cup triumph on the Saturday. Burnley managed to take 4 points in a game that came down to the final wickets and overs, with both teams believing they had chances to win during the afternoon. Nelson overtake Burnley in the table, with the positions very tight in the top division.
Burnley won the toss and chose to bat first, a choice vindicated with a good start at the crease. The openers, Aarav Neherkar and Phil Edmonson, notching up a stand of 52 before the first drinks break, only for Phil to lose his wicket 3 balls after play restarted. Leo Tomlinson helped to add a few more runs, then Simon Edmonson joined Aarav, the two of them adding 51 together to boost the score up some more. When Simon and Aarav were both dismissed, Burnley were sitting on 148-4 with just under 10 overs to bat, George Scott (20) and Harry Tomlinson (16) both hit a six each on their way to a pair of quick cameos, but the major fireworks came at the back end of the innings from Gareth Halley.
When he came to the crease, Burnley were 178-5 with 6 overs left, 69 runs came in those last 36 balls, 50 of which came from Gaz’s bat, including 25 from the last over. The ninth wicket partnership between Gareth and Oscar was worth 54 in 24 balls. Giving the innings a huge boost towards the end, as wickets fell around Gaz, he notched his third 50 in the twos this summer, his knock included only one 4, but came with six 6’s, finishing on 50 from only 21 balls. Though it wasn't the highest score for Burnley, that belonged to Aarav, who missed out on another century this year, dismissed for 86, also his third 50 in the second team this year, and his highest of the summer so far. It came off 120 balls, with six 4’s and two 6’s. Burnley finished 247-8.
The visitors got their reply underway with a good start of their own. Despite losing their first wicket for 27 after 4.2 overs, the new cup champions put on 102 for the second wicket. Both the opener and number three hit fifties, to help Nelson reach 194-3 inside 30 overs. The game looked to be getting away from the hosts, until 4 quick wickets offered some hope for Burnley. Nelson collapsed from 194-3 to 210-7. It started with Oscar removing one of the set batsmen, Captain Bar followed that up the next over by sending the new batter back for a second ball duck. It was then down to Simon, in his second over, taking a double wicket maiden to flip the script. Leaving Nelson needing 38 from 10 overs, with 3 wickets left and new batsmen at the crease.
Burnley were unable to truly press the advantage though, the Nelson number 7 hit a run a ball 31 to take the game back into their hands. He was eventually dismissed to give Simon his third wicket with a good boundary catch from Oscar, leaving his team 11 short with 33 deliveries left. Nelson took only 9 more balls to get over the line, with only 2 wickets left in the end. Burnley did well to bring the game back into the balance, but couldn't quite take full advantage when the opportunity came.
Ben, Simon and Oscar took the wickets between them. Ben finished with 2-62 from 12 overs, Simon took season best figures of 3-22 from 5 overs, whilst Oscar took 3 wickets himself for 75 runs from his 10 overs. Burnley being short on bowling options left them struggling to apply pressure earlier in the innings. 4 defeats in a row see the seconds dropping down the table after a strong opening to the season.
Match Report:
First XI
Walsden vs Burnley
Burnley managed to stretch out their lead at the top of the league, after a clash between first and second place saw our first team come away with a dominant victory, claiming all 12 points and not letting Walsden take anything away with them. Ocki and his boys are now 16 points clear. Following a defeat at Haslingden, Burnley go back to back with wins, and make it 8 victories from 9 league games.
Burnley won the toss and elected to bat first, a decision that was backed up with a strong start from the opening pair of Liam Bedford and Qasim Shah. The pair of them notched up 78 runs before Qas lost his wicket for a quick 46(45), narrowly missing out on back to back half-centuries following last weekend, Bedders though continued on to reach his fifth 50 of the league season, ultimately out for 55(54) at the start of the 21st over to leave Burnley sitting on 117-2. Jack Brunt and Ocki lost their wickets before Joe McCluskie and Ryan Canning came together in the middle, the pair of them put on 53 in 10.2 overs to ensure the score continued to rise without wickets falling.
Joe managed to hit three 6’s on his way to scoring 35 from 50, which is his highest score in the league this year. Whilst Ryan carried on his form from his recent games with England over 40’s to bring up his third 50 in the league this year, finishing not out as the highest scorer with 66 from 62. Adam Hodge added late runs with Ryan, including 19 off the last over from the two of them, which meant that Burnley finished on 256-6.
The Walsden reply got off to a poor start thanks to the Burnley bowling. Blowing the top order away cheaply, Walsden being left at 35-5 inside 12 overs. 3 wickets for Bharat Tripathi and 2 for Adam, including a period of 8 balls where Burnley took 3 wickets without the hosts even scoring a run. Bharat was his usual excellent self as he opened the bowling, only going for 7 runs in his first 6 overs, which included a maiden, a wicket maiden, and double wicket maiden, as well as getting the opposition pro for a second ball duck.
Walsden fought back though, led by James Tierney who counter-attacked the bowlers hard. Alongside Joe Gale, the two added 105 runs in 16.2 overs, the majority of those coming from Tierney, who was out after 47 balls for a rapid 85. He hit nine 6’s in his innings, including 4 in a row from Ocki in an over that went for 28, though Ocki had the last laugh by getting him out in his next over. Once the partnership was broken however, normal service resumed for the Burnley bowling attack. As the last 5 wickets were taken for only 39 more runs. The start and end of the Walsden innings dominated by Burnley's bowlers with some batting carnage mixed in the middle. Fergus and Ocki took two wickets each, whilst it was down to Bharat to take the last and finish the game off. The hosts bowled out in the end for 179 with Burnley winning by 77 runs. Baz finishing with 4 wickets for 57, narrowly missing out on another 5fer after last weekend.