IT was a weekend to forget for Radcliffe as they slumped to an embarrassing defeat at Central Lancashire League strugglers Crompton on Saturday.

After skittling out their opposition for 130 on a poor wicket, the Racecourse side subsided to a paltry 50 in the face of a fine bowling display from home professional Saeed Anwar.

Crompton won the toss and their ability to master the conditions slightly better than the visitors helped them to set a reasonable total.

Only paid-man Pasan Wanansinghe and medium-pacer Stuart Kelley made any real impression with the ball as Crompton painstakingly compiled a challenging total.

Dawson (34) and Lee (17) were the mainstays but the extras column (24) worked against Graeme Simpson's men once again.

Wanansinghe finished with tidy figures of 4-37 in his 24 overs and Kelley returned 4-30 from 12.4 overs.

The reply got off to the worst possible start when Pakistani all-rounder Anwar trapped young opener Phil Hayes in front of his wickets.

Anwar then removed his opposite number, Wanansinghe, for just five runs and Radcliffe were teetering on 19-2. The prolific Bruce Cruse followed four runs later when he was bowled by a ball that shot along the floor and Toby

McLean became Anwar's fourth victim with the score on 32.

From there, an inexperienced Radcliffe batting line-up never looked like overhauling the Crompton score and they limped to 50 before the final nail was struck into the coffin by Mel Whittle.

Only Cruse reached double figures for the Racecourse men as Anwar finished with match-winning figures of 8-22, Whittle grabbing 2-26.

Meanwhile, perennial title challengers Rochdale avoided the banana skin that is STAND.

Stand won the toss and elected to bat but were soon under the cosh when Jon Henderson had removed Warren without troubling the scorers.

However, Paul Wilkinson (29) and Craig Fergusson (31) steadied the ship to leave the Rochdale bowlers toiling for a time.

Indian professional Aakash Chopra then removed both batsmen to leave Stand wobbling and exposed to the on-form Rochdale attack.

Chopra's opposition number, John Seedle, did put up some resistance with a solid 35 but he lacked any real support and Stand subsided to 137 all out; Chopra bagging 6-33.

Rochdale got off to the worst possible start as Eddie Shah and Seedle teamed up to rip out the top three home batsmen for just ten runs; including the prized scalp of Chopra for six.

However, Daz Cryer kept his composure to score 48 vital runs that edged his side within touching distance of victory.

Cryer failed to see the job through but Peter Wilcock (24*) and Roger Oldfield (20*) showed their cool to seal the five-wicket victory with over fifteen overs remaining.

Shah (2-35) and Seedle (2-30) impressed with the ball but Stand are still searching for their first win of the season ahead of their clash with Middleton at the weekend.

However, UNSWORTH have the perfect opportunity to challenge the leaders in the Central Lancashire League this weekend after another convincing win.

A five-wicket victory over Werneth means the Pole-Laners stand just three points off the leaders, Rochdale, and two points behind second-placed Norden; who host Unsworth on Sunday.

Werneth had batted first and were contained by superb economical bowling from Barry Hamilton and professional Robbie MacQueen.

Hamilton bowled unchanged for 25 overs and was rewarded with figures of 4-87, with MacQueen's 18 overs yielding 2-60.

They were faced with Werneth's professional Hrishikesh Kanitkar but restricted the visitors to just 186-6 in their 50 overs.

Kanitkar did make his mark with a sparkling 75 before he was trapped in front by Hamilton but he received very little support from a batting line-up shorn of confidence.

John Hean (44) and Paul Manley (33) gave Unsworth the perfect start but they were both dismissed by Stuart Moore to send jitters through the home side's dressing room.

However, Graeme Jones (59*) kept his nerve to steer his side to a five-wicket victory with seven overs remaining.