Milnrow v Unsworth

Milnrow chased down a target of 202 at Ladyhouse on Saturday to beat Unsworth by three wickets in an enthralling encounter.

Adam Robinson (24) and Steve Dryden (50) made telling contributions as Max Power (88no) orchestrated the run chase to ensure that Milnrow picked up another five points and finished the month of May unbeaten.

Having won the toss, Unsworth batted first and were bowled out for 202 with Milnrow professional Babar Naeem again amongst the wickets, collecting six for 92 runs. Steven Judge top scored with 61 as Unsworth looked likely to post a total well in excess of 200 for the majority of their innings. From a strong position of 175-3 with ten overs remaining, Unsworth will be kicking themselves as they failed to bat out their full 50 overs. Ali Muzaffar chipped in with four wickets for twenty runs to help restrict the visitors to 202 all out.

Milnrow's previous five league and Wood Cup victories had all been achieved after batting first and defending a total, so it was to be an interesting test - chasing a target of over 200 against a strong Unsworth team.

However, Milnrow's reply started badly as openers Alex Bartley and Naeem were unable to continue their good batting form of previous weeks and were both dismissed with only three runs on the board. Adam Robinson was promoted to number three in the batting order and he and Max Power began to build the foundations of Milnrow's run chase.

Steve Dryden joined Power following the departure of Robinson and played one of his finest innings for the club to date, making 50 off 52 balls to add a much-needed acceleration to the innings ensuring Milnrow kept up with the required run rate. Power steered Milnrow to victory with a match-winning innings to end what had been a fantastic advert for Central Lancashire League cricket.

Milnrow v Walsden – Twenty20
Milnrow beat Walsden on Friday night in the first group match of the JW Lees twenty20 competition. Chasing 121, Milnrow reached their target with three balls and five wickets remaining as Mohammed Jehangir made 59.

Milnrow's next fixture is at home to Littleborough on bank holiday Tuesday 5 June. The start time is 4.30pm as the game is preceded by the Queen's Jubilee Celebrations.