Rainhill 140-10 (Higham 70; McKiernan 8-35)
Leigh 87-10 (McKiernan 53; Harrison 4-20, Usman 4-39)
Rainhill achieved their first win of the season with an excellent all-round display against Leigh.
Losing the toss and being put in to bat, Rainhill achieve a score of 140 all out. Rainhill’s opening partnership of Mike Rotheram & Ross Higham worked tirelessly against a controlled Leigh new ball partnership. Ross Higham achieving his first 50 of the season, to end with 70 from a 136 ball stay at the wicket, which would show to be the difference between the two teams. Leighs’ Matthew McKiernan continuously unallowed Rainhill batsmen to settle, finishing with 8-35 from his 17.2 overs.
Rainhill at the halfway point placed great emphasis on taking early Leigh wickets and creating pressure through a full team effort in the field.
Reducing the home side to 24-4, Rainhill’s captain, Jamie Harrison returned figures of 4-20 from his opening 8 over spell, equally support by Khalid Usman who bowled with great control throughout his 19 overs, returning figures of 4-39. Leighs’ McKiernan was a potential thorn in Rainhill’s side, coming in and 3 and batting with a combination of positive shot scoring and a solid defensive game. Saeed Ullah contributing again with the ball with 2-25 from his 11.1 overs, finally removing McKiernan to bowl out Leigh for 87 and give Rainhill their first win of the season.
Special mention goes to Ross Higham’s 70 with the bat in a low-scoring game which showed to be the difference on a day when ball dominated bat.
Leigh – 5 points / Rainhill – 22 points