Church moved into pole position for a spot in the Twenty/20 semi finals with another ruthless performance at Accrington last Thursday.
The home side had their own aspirations after successive victories but David Ormerod’s men were unable to impose themselves on the game and disrupt Church’s game plan.
Skipper Andy Bentley won the toss for the third time in a row in this competition and asked Accrington to bat.
Without Graham Lloyd and the injured Graeme Sneddon, Accrington were unable to break the shackles of the Church bowlers who held the upper hand throughout the innings.
At 51-1 in the 7th over, the game was evenly poised but two wickets in Ryan North’s second over changed the complexion of the match.
Phil Gilrane swooped to take a fine catch at backward point to dismiss Accrington paid man Will Driver for 7 and then opener Simon Hanson was run out going for a suicidal second run after Stuart Crabtree had sent a free hit high into the cloudless sky.
Hanson was again impressive in making a top score of 26 but a total of just seven boundaries in the entire Accrington innings tells its own story.
Veteran Paul Carroll raised the home side’s hopes of a late rally with the games only six, but he was superbly caught in the deep by Ammer Mirza going to repeat the dosage.
Church’s outfielding was the feature of this match with every chance taken and runs kept to a minimum as Accrington were bowled out for 106.
David Ormerod was the only bowler to keep Church in check, taking 2 for 11 from his 4 overs.
Church professional Luke Woodcock increased his average in the T20 to 124 as he steered his side to victory with an unbeaten 34.
Levi Wolfenden had a good all round game, making 28 after a good spell with the ball.
The only regret Andy Bentley’s men may have from this game is that they didn’t win the match sooner then the 18th over.
Accrington still have the better run rate and victory in Friday night’s final game at Rishton would mean that Church still have to win at Enfield to be sure of topping the group.
Both sides could still progress to the semi finals depending on how the other matches go.
Enfield’s match was switched to Thursday but David Bracewell’s men were thumped by 2008 winners East Lancs by 9 wickets.
Whalley professional Kamran Younis showed the way by smashing an unbeaten 73 as East Lancs passed Enfield’s 116-9 in the 12th over.
Aneeq Hassan top-scored with 55 for Enfield who have yet to win a T20 game this season.
