Accrington 102-9, East Lancs 135-8
Sunday 3rd September 2000

East Lancs moved ahead of Ramsbottom and level with Bacup at the top with a 33 run win over Accrington at Thorneyholme Road. The Blackburn side will rue not bowling Accrington out after reducing the home side to 66 - 9 with 13 overs still to bowl. A last wicket stand of 36 between Tariq Hussain (33 not out) and Damian Clarke (9 not out) thwarted East Lancs bid for maximum points which would have put them in outright pole position after Claude Henderson had taken 5 - 39, including three wickets in an over as the home side slipped from 35 - 3 to 35 - 6. Phil Bolton had made 43 of the visitors 135 - 8 before falling to superb one handed return catch by home professional Tama Canning who returned figures of 5 - 56. Henderson hit 33 and skipper Phil Mercer 20 for the new joint league leaders. Scorecard