THE Bolton Association came close to producing the shock of the round in the Lancashire inter-league competition.

They almost toppled one of the competition favourites, the Northern League at Blackpool in a terrific game that was only decided with three balls to spare.

The Association looked as if they had thrown away the chance of a good score with a slow start that saw them struggle to 45-2 in 20 overs.

Captain Andy Mullaney quickly changed that with a gutsy 58 with good support from John Hopkins 42, Richard Sutcliffe 30 and Brett Collins 27.

That gave the Association a healthy scoreline of 195-8 and when the Northern League became similarly becalmed in the early part of their innings, the Association looked in control.

Andy Fox bowled tightly with only seven runs coming from his first six overs and the Northern League looked vulnerable after 20 overs when they had reached only 44-3.

Yet that merely brought the game's turning point as Graham Fisher was joined in the middle by Duncan Welbourne.

Steve Walsh and Richard Sutcliffe chipped in with mean bowling spells to keep them subdued, Sutcliffe taking 1-25 off ten overs and Walsh's 1-29 but Fisher and Welbourne slowly brought the innings back to life and loosened the Association's grip on the game.

They put on a partnership of 155 over 28 overs to set up a thrilling finish hitting the winning runs with only three balls remaining.

Fisher claimed the man of the match award with an unbeaten century while Welbourne provided the perfect supporting role hitting 68. NORTHERN LEAGUE v

ASSOCIATION

Association

A Batterly c Moyes b PatelM-I0

G Bushell b PatelM-I5

K Gorse b JolleysM-I5

A Mullaney lbw b JolleysM-I58

J Hopkins b PatelM-I42

R Sutcliffe run outM-I30

B Collins c Stevens b JolleysM-I27

C Dagnall b PatelM-I7

R Clews not outM-I6

S Walsh not outM-I0

ExtrasM-I15

Total (for 8)...195

Bowling: Patel 10-4-18-4, Stevens 10-1-31-0, Atkins 10-2-54-0, Wilson 8-1-28-0, Jolleys 10-0-52-2.

Northern League

D Haywood c Clews b DagnallM-I4

G Fisher not outM-I100

C Wiggans st Clews b SutcliffeM-I6

N Kenyon b WalshM-I5

D Welbourne not outM-I68

ExtrasM-I16

Total (for 3)...199

Bowling: Fox 10-4-46-0, Dagnall 10-1-32-1, Sutcliffe 10-3-25-1, Walsh 10-2-29-1, Collins 4-0-29-0, Gorse 3.3-0-25-0.

Northern League won by seven wkts

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