No Bury-tale ending for Sunday XI
Rainhill lose at home to Bury by 4 wickets
Rainhill 175-9 (Oliver Powell 40, Tony Wright 37)
Bury 176-6 (Will Moore 50*,. A Farooq 26; Paul Millar 2-29)
Bury beat Rainhill by 4 wickets
Rainhill lost to Bury in an entertaining encounter on a sunny afternoon at Victoria Terrace.
The hosts won the toss and opted to bat. The opening pair of Kiran Nair and Oliver Powell played with confidence and negotiated some tough bowling. Their approaches were different, but Powell's belligerance and Nair's graceful strokeplay complimented each other perfectly. They put on 37 before Nair misjudged a straight ball that cannoned into his stumps.
Matt Lawler was next in, but he was out soon after following a rather bizarre stumping. Stuart Brown, batting at number 4, looked in good shape, playing some cultured shots including a fine reverse sweep. Unfortunately he and Powell were involved in a mix-up attempting to run a single and Brown was run out (pictured) for 10.
Rainhill's middle order were unable to provide much resistance with Sam Addy, Adam Lawler and Joe Crossley all scoring runs but not able to stay around for long. Powell was eventually our for 40, bowled by Worswick.
Tony Wright and Vinny Varghose then sought to mount a recovery. All was going well until Varghese too was run out for 10. Rainhill were on 140 for 8 at this point but were hoping to present Bury with a more competitive target. Wright and Paul Millar helped accelerate the run rate and, after Wright was out for an aesthetically pleasing 37, Millar and Neil Robinson were able to take the score on to 175 for 9 from the allotted 40 overs.
Rainhill's bowlers took regular wickets as the visitors initially struggled to build on positive starts. Bury's batsmen were able to get going but failed to push on. Farooq scored a quickfire 26 but Paul Millar (2 for 29) and Sam Addy (2 for 50) were particularly effective and helped reduce the visitors to 95 for 5. With the game finely balanced, Will Moore entered the stage and his unbeaten half-century was to prove match-winning. Moore came in with his team under a fair amount of pressure and turned the game in Bury's favour with some extravagant shots. He raced to 50 - which included 10 fours and a six - and ensured Bury reached their target with 3.2 overs to spare. In spite of the defeat, it was a positive performance from the team and they will look to bounce back at Old Xaverians next Sunday.
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