Garstang CC remain firmly in title contention after Penrith victory

It was the bowlers who set up victory for Mark Walling’s players, dismissing their hosts for 135 before the batsmen reached their target with only three wickets down.

Having chosen to field first, Garstang took an early wicket when Travis Pieters got the better of Samuel Hall (9).

He also dismissed Asher Hart (6) and Ian Walling bowled Henry Marshall (20) as the home side slipped to 36-3.

Greg Hall (2) became Pieters’ third victim, while Michael Walling picked up the wickets of Greg Cameron (24) and Nicky Burns (1) to leave them 76-6.

Rohan Parekh then had Owen Jones (17) stumped by Matt Crowther but, from 84-7, Penrith’s lower order staged a recovery of sorts.

The eighth wicket pair of Nick Hodgson and Alister Craig added 35, a stand which ended when Hodgson (10) became Crowther’s second stumping and Pieters’ fourth wicket.

Jamie O’Brien (5) was run out to make the score 132-9 before Craig was the last man out, also run out for the top score of 33.

Pieters led the Garstang attack by recording figures of 4-45, Michael Walling took 2-21, Ian Walling 1-22 and Parekh 1-16.

However, the Garstang reply began in shaky fashion as they were reduced to 22-2.

Tom Wells (7) was the first to go, followed by Mark Walling (0) before the third-wicket pair of Michael Walling and Punit Bisht settled matters down and took Garstang past 50.

That partnership was worth 36 and only ended when Michael Walling was dismissed for 16 to make it 58-3.

However, any hopes that Penrith had of victory were over as Bisht and Crowther took Garstang to victory.

They posted an unbroken partnership of 80 in taking Garstang to victory with a score of 138-3.

Bisht struck nine boundaries in his 56 not out, while Crowther followed up his efforts in the field with an undefeated 24.

Garstang were, however, beaten in Sunday’s T20 area finals day at Ormskirk CC.

Their first match brought a 56-run win over Lostock with Punit Bisht leading their innings.

Garstang batted first and made 172-5 from their 20 overs with Bisht hitting 77 from only 46 balls.

Mark Walling also made 35 and Danny Gilbert a brisk 21 not out from only a dozen deliveries.

However, despite reaching 50 in only the sixth over, Lostock’s reply ended with them on 116-8.

Bradley Williams and Alex Senior both top-scored with 28 but Garstang put the squeeze on Lostock in the second half of their reply.

Ian Walling led the way with 2-6 from three overs, while Allan Cook took 2-24.

That saw them come up against the home side in the area final, where Ormskirk won by 12 runs in a rain-affected match.

Garstang were asked to bat first and made 129-9 from their 20 overs.

After losing Michael Walling (1) and Mark Walling (4), Garstang’s innings was dominated by Bisht as he struck 67 from only 43 deliveries.

In reply, Ormskirk had reached 45-1 after six overs when the rain forced an early end to proceedings with them 12 runs ahead on the DLS system.