Rawlinson and Walsden on a roll

The Central Lancashire League champions and leaders avenged their most recent defeat when they beat visitors Littleborough by seven wickets on Saturday.

They made it four wins in nine days at Scott Street with an eight-wicket eclipse of Glossop yesterday to move into the last eight of the Lancashire Cup.

Taking over the captaincy from Chris Dewhirst recently certainly hasn’t had a detrimental effect on Rawlinson’s form.

The left hander hit 83 and added 112 for the third wicket with Riaz Pathan (49 no) as Walsden romped to a target of 183 against their derby rivals.

The only slight disappointment was that Walsden had to settle for four points instead of five, having failed to pick up Littleborough’s final wicket in the first half of the contest.

Five visiting batsmen made it into the 20s but none went beyond, Jake Hooson picking up the key wicket of Clinton Perren for nine and the Barker brothers, Steve and Nick, combining to dismiss ex-England player Chris Schofield for 20.

Rawlinson followed up with 81 yesterday and figured in an opening stand of 120 with Hooson (47) as Walsden eased past Glossop’s 162 all out.

Walsden will meet the winners of next Sunday’s game between Little Lever and Prestwich.

Simon Newbitt showed the way as Todmorden notched the biggest Lancashire League score of the season so far in an 86-run win at Bacup yesterday.

Newbitt made 105 off 136 balls, hitting 12 fours and three sixes, to spur the visitors from Centre Vale to 270 for five.

It was the former Halifax League player’s eighth century and took him past 6,000 runs in the Lancashire league.

An opening stand of 61 with Ben Sutcliffe (15) helped lay the platform and professional Michael Neser struck 72 from 65 balls to move past 500 runs for the season.

Elliott Gilford’s firmly-struck 41 not out took further toll on the home bowlers.

Bacup batted solidly in reply but visiting skipper Andrew Sutcliffe, Tod’s match-winner against Nelson the previous weekend, kept up the good work with five for 44 to restrict the home side to 184 for six.

CENTRAL LANCASHIRE LEAGUE

Littleborough v Walsden

Walsden won by 7 wkts

LITTLEBOROUGH 182 for nine

C Perren c Karunaratne b Hooson 9

G Hulme c Dawson b S Barker 29

C Schofield c N Barker b S Barker 20

T Pye b Hooson 29

C Rushton lbw b Karunaratne 0

M Burns c Dawson b Hooson 21

J Roach c & b Karunaratne 7

G Nash c Josh Gale b Joe Gale 9

J Barnes b Karunaratne 27

M Bux not out 3

L Wilman not out 1

Extras 27

Bowling: J Shackleton 5 0 16 0, J Hooson 12 0 41 3, S Barker 10 2 47 2, U Karunaratne 19 4 53 3, R Pathan 2 0 12 0, Joe Gale 2 0 5 1.

WALSDEN 183 for three

J Hooson c Schofield b Burns 5

J Rawlinson c Nash b Schofield 83

N Barker c Perren b Bux 13

R Pathan not out 49

U Karunaratne not out 9

Extras 24

Bowling: M Burns 9 0 51 1, M Bux 16 4 29 1, C Rushton 5 0 22 0, C Perren 9 0 40 0, C Schofield 6.3 0 33 1.

LANCASHIRE CUP, round three

Walsden v Glossop

Walsden won by 8 wkts

GLOSSOP 162

D Pennington c Brown b Joe Gale 20

L Dale c Hooson b Shackleton 12

D Wilde c Brown b Shackleton 5

J Moss c & b Josh Gale 39

C Turner c S Barker b Shackleton 5

W Hargreaves c Rawlinson b Josh Gale 4

O Kenyon lbw b Josh Gale 9

J Stopford run out 2

M Kells b S Barker 17

D Senior b S Barker 16

M Usher not out 2

Extras 31

Bowling: J Shackleton 9 2 28 3, J Hooson 3 0 16 0, Joe Gale 9 1 46 1, U Karunaratne 9 6 6 0, Josh Gale 7 0 18 3, R Pathan 1 0 4 0, S Barker 3.5 0 21 2.

WALSDEN 165 for two

J Hooson run out 47

J Rawlinson b Dale 81

N Barker not out 23

U Karunaratne not out 8

Extras 6

Bowling: W Hargreaves 7 0 26 0, M Usher 7 1 27 0, C Turner 7 1 34 0, D Senior 7 0 34 0, L Dale 4 0 22 1, O Kenyon 3 0 18 0.

LANCASHIRE LEAGUE

Bacup v Todmorden

Todmorden won by 86 runs. Bacup 0 pts, Todmorden 10 pts.

TODMORDEN 270 for five

SD Newbitt st Collinge b Warren 105

BD Sutcliffe run out 14

BA Pearson c Syers b Sanderson 8

MG Neser c Collinge b Haseeb Azam 72

A Sutcliffe c Butcher b Haseeb Azam 9

EC Gilford not out 41

SA Priestley not out 4

Extras 17

Bowling: Haseeb Azam 17 2 72 2, Warren 11 0 104 1, Butcher 14 2 52 0, Sanderson 8 1 36 1.

BACUP 184 for seven

H Butcher run out 15

AI Taylor b A Sutcliffe 45

TM Farragher b A Sutcliffe 38

Haseeb Azam c Pearson b A Sutcliffe 39

A Fielding b A Sutcliffe 18

A Highley c and b Senior 4

JA Bradford not out 4

MT Collinge c Whittaker b A Sutcliffe 0

Extras 21

Bowling: Neser 7 0 23 0, Foster 9 0 38 0, Gilford 7 1 27 0, A Sutcliffe 16 0 44 5, Senior 11 1 47 1.