Accrington v Colne
Sunday April 18th 2004

Lancashire League
Sunday April 18th	Score		Score
Accrington	136-5	Colne	135-9
Tama Canning 73 not out		Mark Cleary 63
Adam Wilson 24		Gary Hunt 18
Richard Burrows 9		Qasim Ali 15
Mark Cleary 2-49		Tama Canning 3-38
Qasim Ali 2-59		James Hayhurst 2-32
Gary Hunt 0-14		Damian Clarke 1-31
Accrington (10pts) beat Colne (1pt) by 5 wickets

Accrington moved nine points clear at the top of the Lancashire League table for the first time in two decades after beating Colne by 5 wickets in the only match to beat the weather in today's opening fixtures.

A match winning unbeaten 73 by professional Tama Canning earned Accrington ten points after the home side had restricted Colne to 135-9 in a match reduced to 41 overs. Mopping up operations and a good strong drying wind enabled the match to start at 2.30.

Accrington skipper Matt Wilson won the toss and asked Colne to bat on a green surface. Jimmy Hayhurst took the first wicket of the season when he induced a top edge from opener Qasim Ali and took the catch himself. Zahir Afzal ended Gary Hunt's painstaking 18 at 67 and Canning picked up his first wicket of the season by bowling Paul Wilson for 11. Damian Clarke was unlucky to see Colne professional Mark Cleary dropped early on but he picked up Matt Wilson when wicketkeeper Adam Barnes produced a smart stumping. Cleary and skipper Steve Woods upped the tempo before Canning produced the best catch of the match off his own bowling to remove the Colne skipper for 14. Cleary went on to hit the first half century of the season, but after hitting eight fours and a six, the left hander was clean bowled by his opposite number for 63. Four more wickets fell before the innings ended eight runs later with Richard Burrows atoning for an earlier miss by taking a good catch at deep mid wicket off Hayhurst to dismiss Dave Swarbrick. Canning finished with 3-38 off 14 overs and Hayhurst 2-32 off 12.

Accrington lost Mohsin Ahmed for 3 to the best ball of the match with the opener losing his off stump to Cleary but Canning and Adam Wilson steadied the ship. Wilson hit two boundaries in making 24 before the season's first moment of controversy. A straight drive by Canning was deflected onto the stumps by Cleary with Wilson struggling to make his ground. The unsighted umpire raised his finger after consulting his colleague at square leg to put Colne back in the match.

Skipper Matt Wilson soon followed without registering on Accrington's new electronic scoreboard when Ali got one through his defence but Canning remained completely untroubled by the Colne attack, hitting five huge sixes and just two boundaries in a 96 ball knock. Richard Burrows (9) and Stuart Crabtree (8) gave useful support but it was left to Jimmy Hayhurst to write history by chipping Ali over the wicketkeepers head to take Accrington to the summit.