PERENNIAL title challengers Rochdale avoided the banana skin that is Stand when the two teams clashed at the weekend.

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 the league's bottom club subsided to 137 all out; Chopra bagging 6-33 in 16.2 overs.

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.