Action from the Lowerhouse v Enfield Lancashire League match, at the West End on Saturday, Enfield’s pro Madan Lal dismisses Lowerhouse captain Alan Holden.(Unpublished image).
The calculators came out to decide a closely fought game, when Lowerhouse lost their third league game in succession but the margin of victory made it hard to swallow. Enfield were the victors by a margin of 0.08 runs per over in a rain affected match. They averaged 2.86 runs from their 30 overs compared with the Lowerhouse average of 2.78 from 33.
A rain affected match saw Lowerhouse struggle to score 92 for 9, Phil Astin, 21 and David Keeley, 18 were the only Lowerhouse batsmen to reach double figures. However, Enfield similarly struggled, as pro. Mohinder Amarnath and Jon Hartley bowled tightly and Amarnath held to two catches, including Enfield’s pro Madan Lal, and Sullivan and Tripathi also held catches. Enfield limped towards the total and with 26 minutes having been lost for rain during the Lowerhouse innings, only 30 overs could be bowled at Enfield, who needed 85 to win on over rate, and they reached 86 for seven in the next to last over. Unfortunately because of the confusion very few of the spectators knew what was happening and who had won.
(Lowerhouse played Enfield again the next day, away, in the new Martini trophy, a rain affected game which took two Sundays to complete, with Lowerhouse going on to win and eventually progress to the final losing to East Lancashire, the Worsley Cup was suspended to allow the new competition to take place.)