Promotion race going down to wire

Just five points separate leaders Padiham and third place Ribblesdale Wanderers with fellow title hopefuls Baxenden conveniently sandwiched in-between.

And to make matters even more interesting, two of those rivals go head-to-head on the final day of the campaign on September 16th as Ian Britcliffe welcomes Phil Haggerty and company to Church Meadow in a potential ‘winner takes all’ showdown.

As it was Padiham put the pressure on themselves when only managing to take three points away from their fixture with Euxton at Balshaw Park.

The visitors were bowled out for 150 on the penultimate ball of the innings which saw Matt Deyzel top score with 53 midway through the batting order.

The sub professional, deputising for the league’s leading wicket taker Brady Barends who was away on Africa Cup duty, hit six boundaries in his 41 ball knock.

Haggerty (17), Nathan Whitehead (15), Michael Webb (14) and Jimmy Gray (10) also managed double figures for Padiham.

The hosts then did enough to get their noses over the line with an over-and-a-half to spare despite Deyzel’s best efforts with the ball.

The South African all-rounder, who has represented Derbyshire, had big boots to fill but stood up to the challenge in taking 4-58 from a 15-over spell.

Mohsin Khan’s unbeaten knock of 56 had a big say on the outcome of the fixture in the end, as did Euxton captain Andrew Winrow’s 38 having opened the batting.