Khalid Usman’s 95 not out helps Rainhill to win over league leaders
Leigh 228-8 (Karl Brown 87, Adam Shallcross 33; Paul Millar 4-32)
Rainhill 233-5 (Khalid Usman 95*, Billy Godleman 74; Patrick Allan 2-28)
Rainhill (24 pts) beat Leigh (7 pts) by five wickets Scorecard
Rainhill stretched their unbeaten run in the league to four matches following an impressive victory over leaders Leigh. Visitors Leigh won the toss and elected to bat.
Early wickets from Khalid Usman and Paul Millar (2) reduced Leigh to 52 for 3, but Karl Brown and Adam Shallcross shared a fourth-wicket partnership worth 90. After Shallcross edged a delivery from Usman to wicketkeeper Simon Brown, Harry Church came to the crease and was also able to offer some resistance and some useful shots of his own as Leigh kept the runs flowing.nnIt was only Karl Brown who looked fluent with the bat, hitting three sixes on the leg side and 12 fours on his way to 87 from 97 deliveries. His entertaining innings came to an end when he hit Jamie Harrison to Khalid Usman in the deep on the leg side, who took a fine catch. Paul Millar – making his 1st team league debut – picked up two further wickets to finish with impressive figures of 4 for 32. Church remained unbeaten on 29 when Leigh declared with the score on 228 for 8.
Rainhill also lost early wickets and, at one stage, were 35 for 3. Opener Billy Godleman and club professional Usman launched a stunning fightback and put Rainhill in the diving seat. Both played aggressive shots, including some big sixes down the ground and ensured Rainhill were well ahead of the required run rate.
With the score on 150, Godleman survived an lbw appeal and then looked to potentially scamper a bye. He was sent back by Usman but could not quite make his ground despite a dive thanks so some very quick work and a direct hit from Leigh’s Alex Mason. With Godleman out for 74, Usman’s next partner was Jamie Harrison – who plundered 27 from 34 balls and helped to add 60 for the fifth wicket. When he was finally out – caught and bowled by karl Brown – Rainhill needed just 19 runs to win.nnUsman smashed the winning runs with a six to finish unbeaten on 95. Rainhill’s win over the league leaders takes them to seventh in the league.
Many thanks to Paul Millar for assistance with the match report.
Umpires: Jeremy Clein, Ian Laurence
Scorers: Andrew Finney, Philip Audley
Match Ball Sponsor: Inspire Creatives