It wasn’t the best of weekends for Rishton Cricket Club.
It started badly on Friday when a morning downpour left Blackburn Road with a wet outfield that looked to ruin the chance of any play in the scheduled T20 against Church & Oswaldtwistle.
However due to a lot of hard work by some committee members and players, we were able to play a 10 over a side game.
Church won the toss and put Rishton in to bat. Luke Eddleston and Brad Boddie opened the batting and had scored 26 when Eddleston was out for 13, caught by Hussain off the bowling of Dawson. That brought pro Keiren Grimshaw to the crease, and he and Boddie put on 74 before Boddie was dismissed for43, again caught by Hussain of the bowling of Smith.
Rishton went on to post a score of 103 in their 10 overs with Grimshaw finishing with 41 not out.
Rishton’s bowlers struggled to contain the opening pair for Church, who had scored 84 before Grimshaw dismissed Abbas caught and bowled for 52. His opening partner Florentine finished with 50 not out as Church won the match with a score of 109 for 2.
On the Saturday both the 3rd’s and 4th’s games were called off due to the weather.
The 1st XI were away to Greenmount CC in a Worsley Cup quarter final tie. The start of this game was delayed, again due to the weather, but with improving conditions a 30 over a side was agreed.
Rishton won the toss and elected to field. Greenmount opened with professional Jacques Snyman and Tom Heaton and the pair went on to score 74 for the first wicket before Andy Hickey dismissed Heaton lbw for 24. Greenmount lost a quick wicket when Daniel Stevens was caught by jack Hilton off the bowling of Ali Sartaj for just 3.
This brought Travis Townsend to the wicket and he and Snyman put on 164 before Snyman was eventually dismissed being stumped by Matt Nuttall off the bowling of Brad Boddie for 111 with just 3 bowls of the innings remaining. Greenmount ended with a score of 247 for 3.
Rishton opened with Sam Molloy and Luke Eddleston, but made a bad start when Molloy was dismissed in the first over with the score on 5. Keiran Grimshaw joined Eddleston out in the middle and the pair progressed the score to 54 before Eddleston was caught by Hornby off the bowling of Birtwistle for 9.
Brad Boddie was the next at the crease and he and Grimshaw shared a partnership of 59 before Grimshaw was caught by Nicholl off the bowling of Snyman when on 51.
Boddie went on to top score with 59, and thanks to Ali Sartaj with 16 and Jack Hilton with 26, Rishton came very close to hitting the required runs finishing the innings on 227 for 8 at the end of their 30 overs.
On the Sunday the 1st XI home game against Crompton was called off again due to the weather while the 2nd’s who were away at Crompton played a delayed game of 36 overs each.
Rishton won the toss and put Crompton in to bat. Crompton posted a score of 201 for 8 from their 36 overs with Whittle scoring 50, Kobyra 45 and Curtis 34.
Rishton struggled against the Crompton bowling and were all out for 105 off just 25.2 overs. Jack Hilton top scored for Rishton with 35 off just 36 bowls, Clifford scored 15, Ahmed with 17 and Greaves 12.