Khalid Usman’s 7-24 helps Rainhill to Wigan win
Rainhill 211 (Billy Godleman 68, Bilal Khan 46; Vinay Choudhary 3-42)
Wigan 89 (Charles Taylor 29, Zane Nirodi 10; Khalid Usman 7-24) Rainhill (24 pts) beat Wigan (5 pts) by 122 runs
Scorecard. Rainhill’s Khalid Usman took a season-best 7 for 24 to help Rainhill to a welcome victory over Wigan at Victoria Terrace.nnThe win eases Rainhill’s relegation worries and, with the teams below them all losing, a 43-point cushion now separates Rainhill from the drop zone.
Wigan won the toss and opted to field. Billy Godleman, captaining the team for the first time in the absence of Paul Ford, and Ross Higham made a positive start, adding 48 for the first wicket before Higham fell lbw to John Richardson. Rainhill slipped to 68 for 3, but Godleman held the innings together and a crucial partnership of 64 with Bilal Khan helped put Rainhill in control.
Godleman was in good form and hit 9 fours in his contribution of 68. He was out when Raheem Kasser held a catch off the bowling of Jordan Hampson but Khan continued to play confidently and looked set to record his first half-century for Rainhill before Vinay Choudhary struck to remove him for 46. James Clarke made a solid 23 but a flurry of wickets saw Rainhill reduced to 191 for 9 before a last-wicket stand of 20 between Jack Lowrie and Liam O’Toole. helped the hosts to a total of 211.
In reply Wigan slipped to 10 for 2 with Liam O’Toole and Jamie Harrison taking the wickets of Patrick Fairhurst and John Richardson respectively. Opener Charles Taylor offered some resistance and top–scored with 29, but the star of the show was Khalid Usman who put in an excellent performance, aided by good catching and excellent wicketkeeping from Ross Higham. Wigan simply had no answers to the questions Usman asked them, and his seven wickets came in just 13 overs.
Bilal Khan took the last wicket, bowling Wigan’s Raheem Kasser, to ensure a 122-run win.
Rainhill collected a much needed 24 points and won in league competition for the first time since 24th June. The team will be hoping to continue their progress next week when they host Colwyn Bay.