After winning the toss, Bury captain Johnny Stackhouse decided to bat and openers Joe Mitchell (15) and Harvey Fairclough (24) set off well but both went quickly and at the end of the 14th over, the home side were 48-2. Zain Khan (27) and Ahmad Bin Hussain (24) carried on in a similar vein but some tight bowling was slowing the rate a little. Stackhouse and Mike Conn pushed things on a bit with Conn’s bright and breezy 20 from 13 balls raising hopes of a bigger score but this was not to be despite a late flurry from Sully Sarosh (12) who ended the innings not out along with Josh Bowen.
148 to win was by no means an impossible target but the visitors began badly when Sully removed Wilde for 6. Davis-Rice (25) and Shaw (28) soon got going but the introduction of spin from Mitchell and Hussain began to put the pressure back on. First, Shaw fell to a sharp catch from veteran keeper Andrew Mather off Mitchell then Arslaan Shah and Hussain combined to run out Grimes before Mitchell struck again, bowling Davis-Rice. When seam was reintroduced, both Conn and Bowen took wickets but Rice (38*) was proving to be a thorn in Bury’s side. Sully managed to dismiss Wrigglesworth and Springhead were left needing 14 off the last over but they only managed 6 meaning that Bury ran out winners by 7 runs.
With four games left, Stand (A), Unsworth (H & A) and Whalley Range (A) the thirds need to work hard to see if they can catch the leaders and complete a very susccessful season.
Roger Mitchell