Church skipper Craig Fergusson led from the front with a brilliant unbeaten 124 as they crushed basement boys Rishton.

Mohammed Jamil struck a brilliant undefeated 50 off just 30 deliveries as the pair added 103 in the last nine overs as a weary home side wilted in the face of the onslaught.

Rishton captain James Bibby inserted the visitors, possibly with half an eye on stoppages which never materialised, as the predicted showers stayed away.

And it never looked like a wise decision as undisciplined bowling from his openers helped Church fly out of the blocks.

Fergusson and Levi Wolfenden had added 50 by the 10th over but around a third came in extras as the pair were gifted wides, no-balls and byes.

The introduction of spin with Ali Sartaj and sub pro Dwayne Hees, Lancaster’s paid man, perhaps a little belatedly, applied the brakes momentarily and Wolfenden was caught behind off the youngster for 27.

But that only brought former Rishton hero Saeed Anwar Jnr to the wicket.

With his intimate knowledge of the surroundings, the Pakistani star put on 74 in fewer than 11 overs with his captain, the only surprise coming when Hees’ leg-spin got one through his opposite number’s defence when he was on 35.

All the while, however, Fergusson was unmoveable and Adam Greenwood helped him add another 50 before falling to Sartaj for a cameo 21.

Despite a couple of quiet overs that was merely the prelude for the late carnage as Jamil unleashed some huge blows while Fergusson, sweeping and pulling with aplomb, got to his 100 in the 46th over off 141 deliveries.

Jamil brought up his half-century in the final over and Fergusson cut loose and brought up the 300 with a four off the final ball.

There was little chance of Jimmy Bibby’s inexperienced troops pulling off a shock win even though Church had lost twice after scoring 300 in past years.

Ben Bridson was out in the third over to Andrew Bentley but Hees showed some flourishes adding 37 with Matthew Nuttall.

But when Bentley induced a Hees drive to Menazar Mehmood at mid-off, Rishton’s unlikely hopes were over.

Bibby and Luke McVarish put on 65 for the fifth wicket but when Church introduced the Gilrane brothers, Phil and Mark, it was the cue for five wickets to fall in as many overs, Bibby for a patient 37, McVarish for 23.

Sartaj and Josh Brown put up some resistance with a last-wicket stand of 26 before a typical late-order run out brought proceedings to a close with the home side 159 all out.

Accrington squeezed to a derby victory over Enfield in a low-scoring match.

There were few hints of the collapses to come as Enfield’s second-wicket pair Ashley Gowers and pro Werner Coetsee added 54 after the early loss of Aniq Hassan.

Coetsee hit two boundaries in his 44 – the only fours of the Enfield innings but five wickets fell for seven runs as James Hayhurst and home pro Ashar Zaidi ripped into the middle order.

Only a doughty last-wicket stand of 24 between Wes Ingham and Alex Whittaker helped the visitors limp to three figures before being bowled out in the 50th over, Hayhurst earning a collection with 5-37.

Accrington’s target of 109 looked pretty distant though as Coetsee and Liam Jackson reduced them to 4-3 and then 36-5.

Zaidi found allies in Graeme Sneddon, who helped add 47, then Matt Wilson, who largely watched the Pakistani smash his way to 71 not out as Accrington got home with just over 26 overs used.