Home comforts for impressive Longton

LONGTON seconds made home advantage count to comfortably beat Hanford in their NSSCL Division Three encounter.

- Chris Travers

It was hosts Longton who set the early running as they managed to navigate their way to 172-9 from their 40 overs at Ripon Road.

Abdul Basit top-scored with 40, while Antonio Alles (29) and Alen Alex (21) also chipped in to good effect.

Dan Kyle picked up 3-30 for Hanford, while Muhammad Afzaal added 3-34 and there were a couple of scalps for Abid Hussain.

Afzaal followed up his bowling effort with 29 in Hanford’s run chase, but it was a largely forgettable affair.

Uttam Das weighed in with 12, but the visitors were skittled for 72.

Chris Dyer did the bulk of the damage with 5-14, with James Degg keeping the pressure on with 3-10.

Leek seconds also sampled home comforts as they saw off the challenge of Betley.

The Moorlanders put themselves in pole position by racking up 186-9 from their allocation in the first half at Highfield.

Tom Grindey made 21 early on for Leek, but it required some middle-order inspiration from Kieran Carr and Matt Bowcock to ignite the home side's innings.