White Coppice 2nd XI picked up a potentially huge win in the race for promotion from Division 8 with a three-wicket victory over BAC/CC Preston 2nds.

The day got off to a slightly unusual start for the 2nds, with the weather forecast all week suggesting it would be a wasted trip anyway.

John Townson misread the message and turned up at White Coppice for an away game, while three other players pitched up at nearby Preston CC as well. At least for those three it was only 30 seconds down the road.

To top things off, Ian Aldred turned up with a horrible cut on his head, suffered on the way to the ground when he pulled over on the motorway to check he’d packed his trousers, only to smack his head on his car boot in his haste to check!

Fortunately, there was a doctor in the BAC ranks on hand to check him over on arrival, and he was deemed OK to play.

After a somewhat distracting start to the day, the rain stopped and the two captains agreed on a T20 game to try to get a full game in given the forecast.

Martin Cuerden continued his excellent form with the toss. Having lost the first seven of the season, he’s now won eight out of the last nine.

Fresh from the treatment table, Aldred opened up with Visakh P, but BAC got off to a decent start, reaching 22 for no loss after five overs.

Things turned, though, with the fall of the first wicket. Elliot France added to his tally of league catches for the season, taking it to 11, and this triggered a flurry of wickets as BAC slipped to 32-4. After 10 overs, the score was 38-4.

With bowlers limited to five overs each, Jeff Smith and John Townson – playing his first league game for two months post-injury – took over, with both men striking in their first over.

Although the rain held off for the game, the rain that had fallen during the week made scoring along the ground difficult and BAC managed only four boundaries in their shortened innings as they were bowled out for 67 from 19.3 overs.

Townson was particularly miserly with 3-11 from his five overs, while Smith’s latest two wickets mean he has 24 for the season and is fifth in the division’s bowling stats.

The feeling in the Coppice dressing room was that bowling BAC out could be huge, as even if the promised rain arrived it would still mean maximum bowling bonus points.

Special mention for Matt Phillipson, who added another three catches behind the stumps to his tally for the season.

The message to the batsmen was that they didn’t need to play it as a T20. With a target of 3.5 runs per over, there was no need to take big risks.

However, the reply got off to the worst possible start, with Smith and France departing in the first over to leave the score 0-2.

As has been the case a few times this season, it was down to Russ Millhouse and James Hurst to put together the crucial partnership.

The two saw off an excellent spell from Manoj Pilli (2-2 from his five), who gave away nothing loose at all, then decided to attack once he had completed his spell.

When Pilli came off, Coppice were 15-2 after nine overs. Then came the acceleration against the change bowlers.

Over the next three overs, 30 runs came, with Millhouse in particular moving up a gear, including one huge six which hit the window on the top floor of the function facility.

He was dismissed next ball for 29 trying to repeat the feat, only for the ball to get big on him.

It was 45-3 when Millhouse was dismissed, but this triggered a collapse to 61-7, including Hurst for 15, leaving things a bit twitchy on the sidelines.

Tom Bramhall had done the bulk of the scoring in that time, keeping things ticking over with 13 off 15, before Ian Aldred joined him at the crease.

With seven needed to win, Aldred very casually deposited his first ball for six over the leg-side boundary. Then, with the scores level and the field up, he repeated the trick to win the game and finish with 12 off two balls at a strike rate of 600!

It completed quite a day for Aldred, who had gone from splitting his head open on his car boot on the way to the ground to smashing two sixes from his only two balls to seal a potentially priceless victory.

Coppice took all 12 possible points from the game and, after hours of refreshing Play-Cricket, they finally got the news that second-placed Blackpool’s game had fallen foul of the weather.

It means Coppice move into second with two games to go, with promotion now in their own hands.