AN exhilarating display of batting swept Chorley in the regional final of the National Knockout at Windsor Park yesterday.

Facing a daunting-looking total of 203-8 by Fleetwood from their 45 overs, Chorley cruised home by eight wickets with a full seven overs to spare. Opener John Wright stroked an impressive 52 for Fleetwood, while Iqbal Patel bowled splendidly for Chorley to take 3-23 and he followed this up with a typically quickfire 51 out of an opening partnership of 77 to launch Chorley's victory bid in great style.

Neil Bannister (84 not out) and leading run-maker Nigel Heaton (43no) shared a most attractive unbroken stand of 91 for the third wicket, batting quite superbly on a track clearly full of runs. Chorley will now entertain Blackpool in the area final.

On Saturday in the Northern Premier League, Chorley appeared to have 15 points in their grasp, only to be denied by a dogged ninth wicket stand which enabled visitors Preston to snatch a draw.

In a reduced-overs match, skipper Roland Horridge (69 not out) steered Chorley to 161-5 declared, and in reply Preston quickly subsided to 45-8, Chorley professional Josh Marquet and Patel each taking four wickets. But Preston's former professional Manoj Parekh (54no) and the experienced Paul Mann (13no) defied the Chorley attack for 22 overs to save the game and prevent the home side from going second in the table. CHORLEY 161-5 dec

PRESTON 112-8

Chorley 7 pts

Preston 1 pt

CHORLEY

N Bannister c Mann b Parekh ... 32

T Smith lbw Akbar ... 5

R Horridge not out ... 69

N Heaton b Parekh ... 17

J Fazackerley c Paynter b Shah ... 25

N Senior c Namajee b Shah ... 3

Extras ... 10

Total (5 wkts dec) ... 161

Bowling: Akbar 10-1-42-1; J Anyon 6-1-16-0; M Parekh 14-3-48-2; P Richardson 5-0-15-0; J Namajee 3-0-23-0; R Shah 5.1-1-12-2

PRESTON

I McDonnell b Marquet ... 0

J Anyon c Smith b Patel ... 0

P Richardson b Marquet ... 7

O Clayson c Smith b Patel ... 13

R Shah lbw Patel ... 5

Akbar c Cooke b Marquet ... 10

P Paynter c Smith b Marquet ... 5

M Parekh not out ... 54

J Namajee b Patel ... 0

P Mann not out ... 13

Extras ... 5

Total (8 wkts) ... 112

Bowling: Marquet 18-8-43-4; I Patel 15-4-47-4; S Cooke 5-2-11-0; I Mawdesley 2-0-6-0

National Knockout Area semi-final (Chorley won by eight wickets)

CHORLEY 205-2

FLEETWOOD 203-8

FLEETWOOD

J Wright st Senior b Dixon ... 52

B Denning b Patel ... 1

M Clinning c Dixon b Purnell ... 14

N Coultas lbw Patel ... 20

P Willis c Senior b Patel ... 11

A Singleton c Fazackerley b Mawdesley ... 32

C Boscini st Senior b Bannister ... 5

J Newman not out ... 17

A Laird c Smith b Mawdesley ... 9

N Gregson not out ... 3

Extras ... 39

Total (8 wkts) ... 203

Bowling: I Patel 9-2-23-3; R Purnell 9-2-29-1; N Heaton 7-0-32-0; T Smith 4-1-9-0; N Bannister 6-0-38-1; K Dixon 4-0-18-1; I Mawdesley 5-0-22-2; S Cooke 1-0-14-0

CHORLEY

N Bannister not ou; ... 84

I Patel c Wriht b Coultas ... 51

R Horridge c Denning b Newman ... 11

N Heaton not out ... 43

Extras ... 16

Total (2 wkts) ... 205

Bowling: N Gregson 6-2-26-0; A Laird 9-2-38-0; J French 7-0-57-0; J Newman 6-1-30-1; M Clinning 4-1-12-0; N Coultas 6-0-35-1