JESSE Dinnie saw Atherton advance to the semi-finals of the Peter Stafford Trophy with a bowl-out success over Walkden on Sunday, with their Australian captain admitting: “I’ll be honest with you, that was very nerve-wracking.”

The Bolton League Premiership’s bottom side maintained their hopes of ending the season with silverware with a sudden-death success away at the Oval.

Overnight rain on Saturday and an issue with the covers forced both sides into cricket’s version of a penalty shootout, although all four quarter-final ties were settled that way.

Medium pacer Ellis Mort was the Atherton hero.

He was their seventh bowler used, with everyone else on both sides missing before he hit middle stump.

They now host Kearsley in the semi-finals on Sunday, September 2 having got revenge for Saturday’s heavy league defeat against Walkden.

“The rules have changed with bowl-outs,” said Dinnie.

“I was in one last year and everyone got to bowl.

“This time, you had to pick five bowlers who bowled twice, and if it was a draw after those five had bowled their two, your next five get to bowl.

“They only get to bowl one, though, and it’s sudden death. As soon as someone misses and then the next one hits, that’s it.

“It’s pretty nerve-wracking to be honest. I felt more nervous doing that than batting.

“It’s completely different when you’re bowling and everyone’s around. It’s much easier in practice.

“I was part of the first five – I bowled second. But no one from our first five hit or theirs. We all missed our first 10 balls, and it was unbelievable. We warmed up for ages.

“So we went to sudden-death stage. Their next bowler missed and ours did as well. Their bowler missed again, but our seventh went up and hit middle stump.

“Ellis hasn't bowled in the first team all season. Saturday was the first time he’s bowled, so it was lucky we gave him a bowl in the end.

“We were pretty happy when we won. It went off!

“In the end, either way, it didn't matter whether we’d won with a bowl-out or normally.

“It rained on Saturday night, and the covers flew off overnight. If the covers had stayed on, we probably would have played. But we were just happy we won and got through to the next round.”

Kearsley won their quarter-final against Westhoughton to maintain their chances of a double cup success given they face Farnworth in Sunday’s Hamer Cup final.

But Dinnie added: “That’s a winnable game for us. They’ve beaten us in the 50-over games we’ve played, but we’ve beaten them in the T20s.

‘When you start getting into finals, it’s a bit different. It’s anyone’s.

“The boys are pretty resilient. They’ve been going pretty well even though we’ve been struggling for wins in the league.

“Hopefully we can get a cup. Even if we don’t, let’s see how deep we can get.”