WOODBANK went to the top of the Lancashire County League with a double win at the weekend.

They leapfrogged local rivals Prestwich in dramatic style thanks to what Woodbank’s cricket manager Peter Griffin described as a magnificent spell of bowling from professional Steve Dearden, who took 4-32 in Sunday’s win again Glossop at The Kenyons.

The home side had been dismissed for 106 in a match reduced 28 overs, with Glossop bowler Hargreaves taking 6-29.

Glossop made a decent start to their reply, but Simon Read (3-29) and Dearden took wickets at regular intervals to tame the Derbyshire batsmen.

The turning point of the game came when Saj Nawaz took a brilliant diving catch on the boundary to dismiss dangerous Glossop opener O Kenyon for 35.

But the visitors continued to make progress and needed 14 runs off the last 14 overs to win. In the final over they needed just two runs, but Dearden bowled a maiden to restrict Glossop to 105-7.

Griffin also paid tribute to the volunteers and players who turned up at 10.30am on Sunday to mop up after the heavy rain at the weekend to get the game on.

“It really was a magnificent spell of bowling by Steve,” said Griffin. “But there would not have been a match without the effort that was put in to make the pitch playable.”

Griffin also praised the sportsmanship of Saturday’s opponents Irlam, who are bottom of the league, but still pulled out all the stops on Saturday to make their ground fit for a game which Woodbank won by five wickets.

The Manchester side were dismissed for 89, in a match reduced to 30 overs a side, and Woodbank got the runs with 10 overs to spare, with Dearden hitting an unbeaten 28.

“We have to thank Irlam for the trouble took to get their ground playable,” said Griffin. “They could easily have not bothered an taken the two points, but they showed great sportsmanship by making every effort to get the game on.”