RAIN brought a premature end to the local derby match at Fox Lane.

Brian Tennant, the Leyland captain won the toss and put Preston in to bat.

There was a delay of 25 minutes for rain which meant that Preston lost three overs from their allocation of sixty.

Antony Mann and Paul Greenwood opened the Preston innings and added 15 runs before Greenwood was bowled by Brian Tennant for three.

Then Antony Mann and Paul Paynter set about the Leyland bowling attack, albeit with the latter enjoying a little bit of luck. They added 68 runs for the second wicket before Paynter was caught by Mark Pallett off Tennant for 39. He batted 69 minutes and hit 5 fours.

Preston lost their next two wickets at 92. Antony Mann was caught by Mark Pallett off second change bowler, Neil Rimmer, the Leyland professional for 31. He batted 105 minutes, and hit 4 fours. Jabir Namajee batted at the same total, without troubling the scorers, caught behind by Charlie Williams off Rimmer.

And thereby lies a tale, at this point the Leyland scorer departed for some domestic reason, and I was asked by the Leyland Chairman, Stuart McDonnell if I could score, and I duly obliged him for the cost of a free tea.

Preston professional, Scott Henderson and Manoj Parekh added 23 runs for the fifth wicket before Henderson was caught by McDonnell off Rimmer for 21.

The sixth wicket fell at 116, when Parekh was caught by Tennant off first-change bowler, Nasser Afsar for nine.

One run later, Glen Johnstone deputising for the injured Paul Mann was superbly caught by Rimmer in the deep off Afsar for one.

Preston captain, Tony Hesketh and James Anyon stopped the rot with an eighth wicket partnership of 38.

Neil Rimmer with his left arm medium pacer was the first pick of the bowling attack, and took 5-36 from 16.2 overs.

SCORE: LEYLAND 3-0 PRESTON 156