Orrell in spin as Kelly takes four
Peter Kelly takes 4 for 62 in rain affected match
Orrell Red Triangle 187-7 (Ammer Mirza 44, Sam Heeley 39; Peter Kelly 4-62)
Rainhill 13-1 (Tyler McGladdery 5*, Sam Kershaw 6*; Duvindu Tillakaratne 1-7)
No decision. Orrell Red Triangle 5 pts, Rainhill 5 pts.
Rainhill were denied the opportunity to chase down a target of 188 as rain intervened when the game was nicely poised and very firmly in the balance.
Visitors Orrell won the toss and opted to bat. Rainhill's pace duo of Liam O'Toole and Jack Lowrie were unable to make the breakthrough in spite of bowling economically, and Orrell openers Ammer Mirza and Andrew Baybutt shared an opening stand of 46. The partnership was broken when Ben Edmundson held a catch of Peter Kelly's bowling to dismiss Baybutt for 20. Mirza was joined by Richard Everett and the new pairing continued to make progress. moving the score onto 80 before Mirza - seemingly set for his half-century - was out for 44. Edmundson was this time the bowler and Ross Higham made no mistake taking the catch behind the stumps.
Everett and captain Sam Heeley were undeterred and played patient and intelligent cricket as they guided their team towards a competitive total. As with Mirza and Baybutt they were unable to convert promising starts into big scores and were out for 38 and 39 respectively. David Atkinson was delighted to take the crucual wicket of Everett, while Heeley was bowled by Kelly.
Orrell's middle order was unable to offer the same level of resistance, and three further wickets fell in relatively quick succession. Tom Jones weas run out for 11, while Kelly's spin accounted for the wickets of Duvindu Tillakaratne (1) and Matthew Hayes (11). However, Orrell declared having reached 187 for 7 from 62 overs, setting Rainhill a challenging target.
That challenge was made more difficult when Rainhill opener James Clarke was out quickly, stumped by David Naylor off the bowling of Sri Lankan professional spinner Duvindu Tillakaratne. Sam Kershaw and Tyler McGladdery helped move the score onto 13 for 1 before rain caused play to be abandoned. Unfortunately no further play was possible and the teams had to make do with 5 points each.
Umpires: Stephen Fildes, Lawrence Watts
Scorers: Andrew Finney, Frances Haslam
Match ball sponsor: Black Swan Tax