Last-gasp agony as Standish denied in tight finish
Standish first XI suffered a late defeat in an incredibly tight finish at Walton-le-Dale on Saturday.
A lively start saw Standish score 14 off the very first over, before the innings settled down.
Zee Shah's aggression saw him caught at long on for 23 before the innings stalled, with opener Matt Berry removing the entire top five in an excellent spell.
A few contributions from the lower and middle order saw the score creep up to 135, though it was felt there really ought to have been a few more runs on the board.
The home side came out hard, attacking anything with any width, although Harrison Ishmael deservedly picked up three wickets in his opening spell.
With the score on 75, the hosts were still favourites, but Jami swapped ends to follow Harrison and removed the dangerous Mehfuz Patel.
And with Usman (3-16) proving tough to get away from the other end, Walton-le-Dale slipped to 108-9 and the game was there for the taking.
Parkinson strode out and showed an impeccable defensive technique before, out of nowhere, Meer struck two fours and a six from one Jami over.
With eight runs or one wicket for the win for either side, Parkinson did his job once again to keep out Usi, before unleashing his only shot of intent to drive Zee down the ground to secure an incredibly hard-fought win for his side.
At Green Lane, Standish seconds came up short against a strong Whittle & Clayton-le-Woods side.
In Bath and Brooks, Whittle & Clayton possess one of the stronger opening partnerships in the division, and they combined to reduce Standish to 26-5.
The fightback came in the middle order from Neil Wood (27) and Ash Kaithara (24) but, with captain Evans keeping things tight from the other end, Standish were only able to limp to a total of 115.
Jacob Heaton made a breakthrough after a steady opening partnership saw off Jithin Joseph and Austin Williams, before opener Patel and captain Evans accelerated relentlessly towards their target.
Six bowlers were tried, and there were successes for Dan Wood Knowles and Rob Gore, but the visitors completed a win by seven wickets in the 30th over.