Match Report: Third XI
Lowerhouse vs Burnley
A young Burnley side missed the chance to close the gap to Haslingden at the top of the league, following defeat against Lowerhouse on Saturday. The first derby defeat for the third team following three straight victories. With 8 players below 18, the youngsters couldn’t quite do the double in back to back seasons over Lowerhouse.
Gareth won the toss and elected to bowl first, though it was the hosts who made the better start. Lowerhouse made a quick start, reaching 57 in the first 9 overs with Burnley also suffering the casualty of Aayaan Naveed suffering a back injury. The game turned, literally, when Ishaq took the first wicket in his second over, followed by Jack Brunt recording a wicket maiden in the next over. Dropping the opposition to 58-2 from 11 overs. In the next 54 deliveries up to drinks, Burnley managed 48 dot balls, including Jack taking another wicket, restricting Lowerhouse 74-3 after 20 overs. Jack and Ishaq making excellent use of a sticky, turning wicket, often turning the ball too much to get any dismissals, with three players under helmets at one stage around the bat.
Burnley were unlucky not to make more inroads into the opposition batting lineup after all the pressure they had exerted, With 15 overs to go, after Jack and Ishy had bowled out, Lowerhouse were 93-3, but the change in bowlers allowed Lowerhouse to build their score. The partnership was eventually broken for 90 in the 38th over thanks to Gaz Halley, by that stage Lowerhouse had reached 158, and finished 172-4 by the end of their innings. Jack Brunt and Ishy both had excellent figures, 8-3-16-2 for Jack and 8-3-11-1 for Ishaq. Gareth claimed the other wicket, taking 8-1-33-1.
It was a stuttering reply when the Burnley chase got underway. After losing the first wicket for 8, Jack and Phil Edmonson put on 30 together and looked to build a base to reach the target. But Burnley lost 3 wickets in the space of 6 balls, including Jack and Phil in back to back deliveries to stifle the batting attack, leaving the visitors 38-4 from the first 9 overs. Another two wickets fell in a short period of time with Burnley falling to poor balls and their own mistakes, collapsing to 59-6 from 16.2 overs.
It was only when Gareth joined Morgan Shapland in the middle that Burnley recovered and changed the momentum of the game. Morgan batted well with the wickets falling around him, and looked to support Gaz in chasing the total down. The pair reached a 50 partnership from 54 balls, thanks to a huge 18 run over from Gareth. But just as he was looking to accelerate, Morgan was dismissed to another full toss. The chase got even tougher then for Burnley, as Gaz was starting to suffer from a calf injury and was unable to bat as freely as he liked. He still managed to record another 50, but fell soon after, with Burnley still 38 runs shy. Abel Litto and Joe Holden attempted to deny Lowerhouse a full 12 points, and battled well, but the last wicket fell with only 11 deliveries left in the innings.
Burnley all out for 140, 32 shy of the target. They managed to claim a hard fought two points, with only 9 players fit by the end of the game. Had the boys been at full strength, the outcome may well have been very different in the end. They will be disappointed to have fallen short, and now have only 2 games left in their season as they fall to third in the table.
Match Report: Second XI
Rochdale vs Burnley
The twos suffer another defeat and fall into the relegation places for the first time this season following defeat at Rochdale. Despite some hat-trick heroics from Oscar Halley, it was another game where Burnley fell well short when chasing their target.
The hosts won the toss and batted first, and made a strong start to reach 54 from the opening 10 overs. But two wickets in two overs, from the bowling of Ben Sutcliffe, and then a sharp run-out from Simon Edmonson allowed Burnley to get a foothold in the game. Johnny O’Brien claimed an LBW with a slow, looping delivery a few overs later. Then two quick wickets before drinks further cemented Burnley’s position in the game. The first came from Ishaq, caught behind by Paul Mortimer thanks to an assist from stand-in keeper Josh Holding and his shoulder. The second came from Johnny, and a good catch from Ali Syed. Rochdale had lost 5 wickets for 51 runs, and went into drinks after 22 overs at 106-5.
Rochdale were able to recover though, as the sixth wicket saw a 64 run partnership inside 13 overs, ended thanks to an excellent high catch from Hassan Sadaqat from the bowling of Dean Metcalf. The next three wickets were the highlights of the game though for Burnley, as Oscar Halley claimed his first senior hat-trick. Starting off by dismissing the opening batter who had scored 61 following a catch from Ali at the end of the 38th over. The start of the 40th over saw Dean take a catch to set up the hat-trick ball for Oscar, which he achieved by trapping the next batter LBW and getting the plaudits of everyone on the ground. Ben finished the innings off a couple of overs later, to dismiss Rochdale for 199.
Oscar finished with 3-47 from 10 overs thanks to his hat-trick. Whilst Ben (2-30) and Johnny (2-45) took a couple apiece. Ishaq and Dean claimed a wicket each with Simon’s runout helping Burnley claim a valuable 2 points. 35 extras conceded by the bowling unit meant it was the second highest scoring asset in the Rochdale innings.
The Burnley reply saw early setbacks, losing both openers with only 11 runs on the board. A partnership between Paul and Josh helped to settle things for Burnley, as the pair put on 41 together and looked set to make inroads into the chase. It was at the end of the 16th over when Paul was dismissed after he had helped push the Burnley score up to 52-2, unfortunately the platform set by himself and Josh soon fell apart again for the batting line-up. Josh and Ali managed to add 14 together, but the last 7 wickets fell for only 30 runs once Josh was dismissed, as collapses continue to haunt the Burnley batting.
Josh top scored with 37, but Paul was the only other batter to reach double figures, along with extras from the Rochdale bowling contributing 29. Burnley were bowled out inside 29 overs for 96. It is the third game in a row where the second team fail to hit three figures when batting.
Match Report: First XI
Burnley vs Enfield
The first team solidified their place at the top of the league with a hard fought victory over Enfield. Taking all 12 points on offer whilst teams around them were unable to match the success of Ocki and his team this weekend. The gap to Walsden now 16 points with three games left in the season.
The visitors won the toss and elected to bat first, a decision which went against them to begin with. Tight bowling from the opening pair of Bharat Tripathi and Adam Hodge restricted Enfield to 27-2 from the first 13 overs. Adam achieved 28 dots from his first 6 overs, applying a lot of pressure whilst Bharat took the two dismissals at his end, removing both openers cheaply. His second wicket put him at 700 Lancashire League wickets, 692 of which have been in Burnley colours.
A small recovery was made by Enfield, managing a partnership of 40 before Ockert Erasmus removed Keith Barker, followed by 26 more added when Ocki took the wicket of the opposition pro. Leaving Enfield 86-4 inside 28 overs. Things got better for Burnley when Fergus Bailey got in on the action against his old team, achieving 350 Lancashire League wickets with his first dismissal of the day, that started a collapse for Enfield, who lost 4 wickets in 16 balls. 2 each for Fergus and Ocki all coming in 4 consecutive overs. Enfield struggling at 99-8.
Things got worse for the visitors when Callum Clarke made an excellent throw from being on the floor to effect an excellent runout to leave Enfield on the cusp of being all out. Though they didn’t go quietly. Adam Bracewell clobbering 24 runs from his next 6 balls gave Enfield a little boost, before he was bowled by Fergus to finish off the innings. Enfield all out for 125 from 36.3 overs. Ocki finished with best figures of 12-2-48-4 whilst Fergus wasn’t far behind with 10.3-0-42-3. Bharat took 2-21 from his 8 overs, whilst Adam will feel he deserved more rewards, going for only 11 runs in his opening spell of 6 overs.
The Burnley reply didn’t get off to the best of starts. Losing their first wicket with only the second ball of the innings. The second wicket came in the 12th over, Burnley having lost both openers themselves, with the score 19-2 after 12 overs. Runs not coming easily for the home team. Callum Clarke and Matt Roberts stabilised the innings, adding 38 together, but 2 wickets in 3 balls saw both Callum (33) and Matt (11) back in the dressing room with Burnley pulled back once again, at 61-4.
Ocki and Ryan Canning were together in the middle at this stage, with neither having faced a ball. Burnley needing 65 runs with just more than 26 overs remaining. Watchful batting saw the pair add 31 together before Ocki was out attempting his patented reverse sweep. The hosts still 34 shy with just under 17 overs to bat. Joe McCluskie joined Ryan, with the pair tasked to see the game home. Which they managed to do with careful and steady batting. Knocking the runs off over the next 13.3 overs. Joe finished with 11, whilst Ryan matched Callum’s score with 33, including hitting the winning runs.
Burnley won with 3.3 overs and 5 wickets to spare. Ensuring they claimed a full set of points in another home game where they showed their champions spirit to dig out the victory.