Read lose their invitation to 20/20 Finals Day

Read's invitation to Twenty20 Finals Day was torn to shreds after Brinscall came out on top to win by three wickets at School Lane.
Read's Matt WalkerRead's Matt Walker
Read's Matt Walker

The visitors were put in to bat first and seemed to buckle under the pressure as they were four wickets down with less than 50 runs on the board.

The club’s skipper for the quarter-final, Andrew Bennett, was introduced at seven and he put on 52 with Ben Woodall.

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The later ended the innings on 35, made up of four boundaries, while his captain added 23 to Read’s 133-8 finish.

But the damage had already been done and Brinscall capitalised. Smelling blood, Joshua Andrew and professional Sehan Weerasinghe found 15 boundaries between them to take the tie away from their opponents.

The pair added 53 for the second wicket with Andrew posting 39 while the Sri Lankan made 58 from 31 balls.

Bailey Richards took figures of 3-18 for the away side and Jamie Woodall took 2-32.

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Read, though, were much improved the following day and recorded a comprehensive victory over last season’s runners up Whalley.

After Kyle O’Connor opened with 37, Michael Whalley and paid man Matthew Walker proved simply unplayable. The pair hit centuries in Read’s 375-4, adding 204 runs for the second wicket.

Walker hit 20 fours and five sixes in his sublime knock of 161 and Whalley hit 13 fours and three sixes in his 107.

Richards, Jamie Woodall and Jack Wood all took a couple of wickets apiece to cut Whalley’s innings short and bring home the bacon.

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Meanwhile, Padiham were beaten by 101 runs against Oswaldtwistle Immanuel at New Lane.

Another four wickets for Toby Burrows, in addition to Tom Shirtcliffe’s 4-18, wasn’t enough as Shubham Khajuria made 111 of his side’s 211 runs.

Burrows then top scored with 22 for Padiham.