A SEE-SAW finish saw Lancaster escape Kendal's clutches as tailender Ian Burstow hit a rapid 26 to decisively tilt the scales at Shap Road on Saturday.

However, Kendal were left asking themselves how they missed out on three batting bonus points in their innings.

Asked to bat, Kendal put on 53 for the first wicket in 15 overs with openers Ikram Ullah (28) and Kevin Howarth (23) building a workmanlike platform.

Rain stopped play for over an hour during this period and, including a delayed start, 12 overs in all were lost from the 50 allowed.

Lancaster skipper Tim Barry did sterling work for his side to remove the first three in the batting order, including that of danger-man Terry Hunte, who was warming to the task on 37.

Even so, Kendal reached a promising 102 off 24 overs and bonus points for attaining 140, 160 and 180 looked within reach. Instead Lancaster took a grip on an unpredictable contest by removing seven wickets for 29 runs with Barry (5-47) and Burstow (4-27) dividing the spoils between them.

After restricting Kendal to 133-9 off the rain-reduced 38 overs, Lancaster held the initiative.

Indeed, the visitors looked to be cruising at 52 after 18 overs for only the loss of Jamie Heywood - leaving them needing 82 to win off 20 overs.

In-form off-spinner Chris Miller (4-39) had his say, however, with a victim in four successive overs, and with New Zealand paceman Graham Aldridge (3-43) picking up a couple, Lancaster collapsed to 100-7 with only three overs remaining.

Crucially, Burstow clobbered 26 in 11 balls and swung the advantage back to Lancaster as 15 was carved off one over. Although the eighth wicket fell in the penultimate over, Lancaster were safely back on course and hit the winning runs with three balls to spare.