The sunshine inspired Burnley opener Tripathi who scored 50 off 34 balls as the Turf Moor side went form 50-1 after six overs, having lost Daniel Pickup for one, to 77-1 off 10 overs. Tripathi went on to score 69, which included 14 fours of the highest quality off just 70 balls.

No wonder he looked so disappointed when caught at cover when surely a century was beckoning.

On the demise of Tripathi and Burton (13), Burnley professional Kulatunga took up the challenge with a swashbuckling 55 which included six fours and two sixes. Unfortunately with six overs to go he did not see out the Burnley innings which would have resulted in a far higher Bacup run chase.

Magnificent support from Michael Kelly (11), skipper Steve Brunt (17) and Bharat Tripathi (27) helped Burnley through a sticky patch as first sub pro Nathan McCullum bowled 4-62 off 17 overs, while Peter Fell's slow left arm spin put the brakes on a potentially high Burnley score with 4-63 off his 20 overs.

Andy Spencer, the Bacup opening bowler, was expensive in his first spell but came back to record figures of 2-65 off 10 overs and restrict Burnley to 218 all out in the final over.

The youth policy especially in the middle of Bacup's reply looked to be paying dividends after Bacup fell to 74-5 half way through their innings.Youngsters Andrew Spencer (40), Scott Thompson (15), Chris Bleasdale (13) and Fell (24) pushed on towards Burnley's total.

An opening spell by Graham Lalor of 10 overs with 1-38 had helped put the pressure on the Bacup run chase, assisted by Bharat Tripathi taking his 44th league wicket of the season.

Michael Kelly, how nice to see him back in the attack, took three early wickets, including that of Nathan McCullum (41) who had a quickfire innings and looking ever increasingly dangerous with four fours and two huge sixes before falling to an excellent catch by Daniel Pickup at deep fine leg.

At the half way stage Bacup seemed down and out, but as previously reported the middle order brought some respectability to the Bacup response. Kelly finished with 3-48 off his 12 overs.

Enter the evergreen James Capstick, whose first over produced a maiden, but his second - containing two wickets - really put the game back towards Burnley, bowling the dangerous Spencer and Thompson.

Capstick went on to finish with 4-25 off his nine very welcome overs. Lalor came back to take his second wicket, that of Peter Fell and the game was Burnley's with 12 more points in the bag and up to fourth in the table.

Bacup falling 34 runs short of the Burnley total but picking up four bonus points for a good afternoons work.

It was nice to see Burnley take the bowling points without the professional Kulatunga being involved in the action and the four amateurs sharing the wickets in commendable fashion.

The steady but influential performance of Chris Burton behind the sticks gives confidence to the Burnley attack, with no byes conceded despite him standing up to three out of the four bowlers throughout the innings.

Burnley now go on to Church on Friday night for the 20/20 semi-final, before returning to league action at the weekend when they entertain leaders Accrington at Turf Moor on Saturday. Wickets pitched at 1-15 p.m.