A PEPPERY 72 from Kendal opener Ikram Ullah was the mainstay of the innings and helped to set up a 13-run victory over Leyland Motors in Sunday's Thwaites Smooth Beer Trophy match at Sandy Lane.
It was a belated first appearance in the competition for the Shap Road men, who still have to play postponed matches against Preston and Darwen, Indeed, another wet weekend put this fixture in doubt. It was past 4pm before a ball was bowled and almost immediately showers forced further stoppages to leave the sides facing a straight 20-20 type shoot-out.
Inserted on a pitch offering serious assistance to the bowlers, Ullah favoured a bold approach and it paid off handsomely.
His first scoring stroke was a six and he clouted another and nine fours in a top- scoring 72 off 50 balls made with five partners before he was out with the score on 108-6 with three overs left.
Adrian Raynor, batting at No. 7, fared next best with 18, including two sixes, but it may be the last we'll see of him this summer because he badly tore a hamstring bowling and had to be helped off.
Aspinwall emerged the pick of the Motors bowling with 3-22 off three overs.
Faced with target of 133, Motors were looking for a telling contribution from professional Atif Ashraf but Kabir Khan dismissed him off the fifth ball of their reply. Stuart Parkin, back from Australia, ran from deep square leg to mid-wicket to take a superb catch.
Motors moved on to 31 before the next wicket fell and got back in with a shout with solid contributions from veteran David Makinson (23) and Aspinwall (22).
With four overs left, Motors still had a live chance, needing 38 to win with five wickets still standing.
Just three runs came off Kevin Howarth's next over and he helped out his skipper David Fallows, holding a catch at point to get rid of Makinson.
That was the signal for Khan to return for his final over and he grabbed two more wickets to finish with 3-16 and tip the scales to the visitors, with Motors wanting 24 off the final over with eight wickets down.
They managed 10 but Fallows, who only bowled his left-arm spin because of Raynor's injury, struck another blow to give him 3-28 with the home team still 13 runs adrift at the close on 120-9.
COMING UP: Kendal are away to Blackpool in the league on Saturday and then at Fleetwood in the league cup on Sunday.
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