Westgate lose in last over

For the 4th time this year

Written by Chris Hill

In 3 of Westgate 1st X1s last 4 League games the result of the game has been in doubt until the last over and in two of those it came down to the last ball - on Saturday at Silverdale it happened again - the home team needed 9 runs off the last over bowled by the returning Zak Buchanan with 9 wickets down to chase the Westgate total of 214 for 8.

Westgate were steered to their commanding total by Garry Tattersall who scored 87 off 140 balls with 14 fours & 1 six, he was aided by the in form Craig Buchanan (35), Andreas Arestidou (29) and Dylan Conroy (23). The main bowling threat was created by veteran Phil Moffatt who returned impressive figures of 21 - 5 - 77 - 4.

All the early Silverdale batsmen made starts with skipper James Greenhall leading the charge with a rapid 66 off 43 balls and 50 in boundaries, Johnny Mason (30) and Rob Letcher (38) put Silverdale in command at 171 for 5 after 36 overs. Zak with 5 - 65 & Andy Hill with 2 - 40 ensured an exciting finish.

The last over went 1, dot, 1 bye, 2 (with a run out chance), 4 (to make the scores level) and finally 1 to Curtis Graham who had engineered the victory with a mature knock of 20 n. o. Silverdale took 12 points from this pulsating encounter, a great advert for Westmorland League cricket, the reigning champions took 3 points as they rued several missed & dropped catches. Westgate now have a 24 point leeway to make up as the season starts its second half.