Fourths up to third
Rainhill in 3rd place after 7-wicket win at St Helens
St Helens Town 57 (Adam Moscrop 19, Adam Kelly 6; Amber Bowie 3-8)
Rainhill 58-3 (Motsim Khan 19*, Dom Wallis 14*; Sam Westhead 2-12)
Rainhill (20 pts) beat St Helens Town (1 pt) by 7 wickets
Rainhill's 4th team are up to 3rd in the league following their second successive victory.
Their latest win, a low-scoring affair at Ruskin Drive, underlined the potential of Deepak Gupta's team, not least as an effective bowling unit.
Rainhill won the toss and opted to field. Rainhill didn't have to wait long for a wicket, as Adam Kelly misjudged a delivery from Sarah Curlett that rattled into his stumps. The next ball brought another wicket: Sam Westhead was caught and bowled by Curlett, leaving the home side struggling on 9-2.
Adam Moscrop and James Stocks to their credit helped St Helens Town rebuild their innings and, in the face of some controlled and consistent bowling from Rainhill, added 30 runs for the third wicket. The promising partnership was ended when Stocks was bowled by Dom Wallis. A flurry of wickets (another for Wallis and two for Gupta) then saw St Helens Town collpase from 39-3 to 44-7; among those out was Moscrop who top-scored with 19. Rainhill had little difficulty seeing off the tail, as Amber Bowie (3-8) and Colin Moran (who took the last wicket with his first delivery) bowled the hosts out for 57. It was a particularly impressive performance from Bowie (pictured).
Faced with what appeared a straightforward target, Rainhill's openers Ashar Sohail and Kiran Nair were out early, both without scoring. Dom Wallis (14 not out) and Colin Moran took the score to 34 before Moran's innings was ended when he was bowled by Sam Westhead for 8. However, Wallis and Motsim Khan (19 not out) were able to reach their target without further loss to earn Rainhill their second victory of 2022.
Rainhill should face a stiffer test when they host Bootle on Sunday.