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Worsley Cup holders East Lancs staged a battling fightback to take their place in the second round at the expense of Rishton.

Having struggled to 60-5 from 40 overs, East Lancs looked to be in deep trouble. Rishton professional Paul Wiseman, 3-4 in his 10 overs, and Robbie Walsh, who conceded just six runs from his allocation, had put the brakes on.

But East Lancs managed to accelerate just in time and the last 10 overs brought 83 runs, Paul Turner (30) and Paul Kelly (20) lighting the fuse and Jan Van Boeckel (29no) and Nas Iqbal (13no) finishing with a bang.

The total of 142-7 looked respectable enough but Rishton were in with a chance while Wiseman (33) was in the middle. He finally holed out on the boundary after trying to smash a full toss out of the ground.

John Davies (23) kept Rishton hopes alive until Iqbal came back to round off an impressive bowling spell. He finished with 4-24 and Rishton 122 all out.

Joe Scuderi led Colne, last season's losing finalists, into the last eight at the expense of local rivals Burnley. The professional made 98 as Colne overhauled Burnley's 160-7 with eight balls to spare.

Scuderi faced 117 balls and hit eight fours and four sixes and his dominance was reflected in the fact that he made his runs out of 138 when he was dismissed by Kamran Farooq just two short of his century. Justin Nutter played an admirable supporting role as he occupied the other end for the best part of two hours but Burnley were left to rue a dropped chance at slip, off Scuderi, when he had made 19.

The Australian gave no other chances in a quality knock and although there was a brief moment of panic following his dismissal, skipper Gary Laycock and Matthew Wilson saw the hosts home.

Ian Whitehead and David Brown had given Burnley a target to defend as they put together an 86-run partnership for the fifth wicket to rescue the visitors from 45-4 after professional Anthony Botha had been run out.

Whitehead's 59 came off 109 balls with five fours and a six and Brown made 37 before becoming one of Scuderi's two victims.

Church produced a pathetic performance and were no match for in-form Lowerhouse, who skittled them for just 43 runs.

It might have been a total humiliation, as there was not a single boundary scored from the bat, no batsman managed double figures and they were grateful to 'extras' for 17 runs in their meagre total. Lowerhouse professional Martin Van Jaarsveld was again the mainstay of their innings, scoring 59 and sharing an invaluable stand of 70 with Simon Payne (34).

The wickets were shared by the attack as Lowerhouse were dismissed for 153. But that proved way beyond Church who simply capitulated.

Lowerhouse's Paul Stansfield finished with four wickets, with the only black mark against the bowlers being 13 wides as they cruised into the next round.

The games between Bacup and Enfield and Ramsbotom and Todmorden were both washed out and are due to be played this Saturday, the reserve date. The draw for the second round is scheduled to take place on Saturday evening at Bacup.