AFTER three drawn games Memorex Leigh CC finally managed their first league win of the season against a dreadfully defensive New Brighton side at Beech Walk.

Former Clifton wicketkeeper Gareth Cross produced another characteristically aggressive innings full of sweetly timed leg side shots to finish undefeated on 63 off only 49 balls including 38 runs in boundaries which enabled Leigh to declare at 192 for 5.

New Brighton seemed to be completely uninterested in going for the runs having ground their way to 24 for 1 off 20 overs and were eventually all out for 125.

against tight bowling by Jo Angel and Ronnie Davis. Leigh then tried several bowling changes, one of them enforced by an unfortunate injury sustained by Greg Jennings, who badly dislocated a finger when attempting to take a return catch.

The game appeared to have reached a virtual stalemate when an inspired decision by Dave Dove to utilise the rarely seen bowling of Andy Batterley paid almost immediate dividends. He dismissed opposing captain Neil Cross, the former Cheshire player, who was bowled without playing a shot having scored 27 off 91 balls and followed this in his next over by removing the obdurate Davis.

This initiated a collapse form 52 for 1 to 55 for 6 but a partnership of 51 between Burns and Murphy then provided some light relief. The return of Angel and Davis to the attack, however, as the light deriorated, made batting increasingly difficult and saw New Brighton dismissed for 125 with 5.1 overs remaining, Angel taking 5 for 21 off 17 overs and Davis 2 for 25.

Next weekend, Leigh have two games against traditional local rivals playing Wigan at Beech Walk on Saturday and Worsley away on Monday.