Church bounced back from losing the Twenty20 Cup final and two Lancashire League games last weekend with a double win to keep them in the title hunt, 22 points behind the leaders in fourth place.
Levi Wolfenden returned following his holiday and opened up with 42 against Haslingden.
Wicketkeeper Sam Tucker’s late 45 and an unbeaten 35 from Mark Gilrane took them to 187-9.
Captain Graham Knowles got Haslingden off to a good start with 65 but Saeed Anwar’s 5-80, Lloyd Aspin’s 3-14 and Sam Holt’s 2-33 helped them to a needed 20-run win.
And it was a narrow six-run win against Colne on Sunday with Aspin this time in the runs with 63 in their 130 all out.
Six Colne batsmen got into double figures but no one got past 16 as Anwar finished on 5-44, Aspin 3-43 and Muhammed Jamil 2-25 in their six run victory.
They were without captain Craig Fergusson who has been banned for dissent to an umpire during the Twenty20 final at Ramsbottom – Andy Bentley was skipper in his absence. Fergusson returns this weekend.
Meanwhile Accrington also had a new captain in Graham Lloyd – replacing Jimmy Hayhurst for the rest of the season – and he got off to a one-win, one-loss start.
Pro Ashar Zaidi took 11 wickets through the weekend as they overcame title-chasing Todmorden on Sunday but lost to Burnley on Saturday.
Marley Ali got a career-best 41 as Accrington made 144 all out against Tod.
Tod never got going as pro Zaidi’s 6-29 and Hayhurst’s 3-38 ripped through their order as they finished on 91 all out.
Accrington needed to bounce back after being all out for just 85 against Burnley with Zaidi top scoring with just 19.
He then took five wickets in reply in a low-scoring game as Burnley finished on 86 with two wickets to spare.
