DAVE: Thirty-one overs of Kabir (Khan) and Kev (Howarth) was enough to bowl out Morecambe last Saturday, with at one point the pro having 5 for 9 including a hat-trick.

After a great deal of rain all week the wicket was surprisingly dry but soft. However, the biggest factor for us after inserting the opposition were the overhead conditions.

Our two bowlers certainly made the most of it as the ball was swinging a lot and they bowled it in the right areas to reduce the home team to a small total for us to chase.

This was backed up by some fine catching by Ade Raynor and Simon Little in particular.

Ikram (Ullah) then had an outstanding knock, carrying his bat for 71 runs out of 87. After a watchful start he opened up his shoulders for some big boundaries.

Game over, 12 points and showered by 5.30pm. That's what it's all about! After our brilliant performance on Saturday we decided we just had to turn up and win in the Thwaites Smooth Beer Cup on Sunday against a depleted Preston side.

When you make the mistake of thinking this way, cricket has a habit of making a fool out of you and that is what happened.

Apart from Chris Miller again grabbing five wickets and bowling well at the end of an innings, we had a shocker and in the process said goodbye to any chance of qualifying for the semi-finals, which would have been against Leyland and Farrington.

We are still waiting for confirmation of the date for our semi-final in the Thwaites 20-20 competition. It will be against Blackpool, possibly next week or the week after at Shap Road.

TOMMY: Fifteen more points won in excellent fashion, with obviously Marc Hadwin producing a marvellous spell of bowling to win another game for the club which he has played for all his life.

I don't have any idea how many wickets he has taken for Netherfield, but he must be near enough top of the pile.

He is one of the quieter members of our side, not in a reclusive manner though. He just has a brain and thinks before he speaks, which just about seperates him from the rest of us!

Marc has sat in the same place in the dressing-room ever since I can remember and always produces the goods, year in year out.

The other reason he is such a good team member, is that he understands all the rules and regulations when it comes to overs and cup games etc. So in a nutshell, Marc is our brains and we take him everywhere with us.

It looked as though the weather was going to annoy us again last week, but Wayne, our groundsman, did a marvellous job to produce a wicket that allowed us to score 200+ again, with our pro 'Benky' batting excellently for the second week running when we needed him.

Blackpool are coming to town this weekend which means another hard afternoon. I will be looking forward to seeing which bowler this Saturday takes the responsibility of getting the crucial wickets to beat the opposition.

Sunday sees us play Morecambe in the league cup, and we will need an excellent performance to progress to the next stage of the competition.