The Isle of Man national squad face a tough challenge on Sunday when they play at Atherton in the Lancashire Cup.

The English side won the strong Bolton and District League last year. However they have made a hesitant start to the new season, losing both their opening games. They went down by 37 runs to Bury and then were defeated by six wickets at Swinton.

In past seasons the top Island club has taken part in the Lancashire Cup. This year it was agreed to send a national team as part of the warm-up for the ICC Championships in June.

The squad is Phil Littlejohns (Peel and St John's) (Captain), Alex Stokoe, Adam Killey, Luke Lacey, Max Stokoe, Sam Kebble, Adam McAuley, Carl Wagstaffe (Cronkbourne), Danny Kniveton (Crosby), Akkie van den Berg, Greg Hawke, Ollie Webster (Peel and St John's).

The manager is Colin Jones with Phil Unsworth as Coach.

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On Saturday Peel and St John are at home to Crosby in the Standard Bank Premiership. Both sides won last week with each set of batsmen scoring over 200 runs.

Danny Kniveton hit 78 and Jack Rowlands was 72 not out as the Marown team ran up a massive 279 at Ramsey. The Mullen-e-Cloie club recovered from 9 for 3 to finish on 233 against Cronkbourne.

Rain caused that match to finish early with Peel and St John's winning and taking most of the points because of their higher run rate. Chris Hawke was in top form with 77 while Russell Miller returned from injury to hit 44.

This week's game should be decided by the bowling strength of the two teams. Akkie van den Berg starred for the Saints, but Crosby's Dave Picken had the best figures with 3 -16 from his eight overs.

Cronkbourne have a good opportunity to climb the table when they take on Valkyres at Tromode. Once again they are likely to be without Max and Alex Stokoe while Luke Lacey too could be missing.

However they have a very strong squad and an excellent team spirit. This should carry them through against Valkyres who last week went down to Castletown.

They had done well to restrict the Town to 132 for 9, but in reply their batting collapsed. Only opener Paul Fleming and number ten Hameed Sulthan reached double figures. The other nine batsmen mustered only a total of seven runs.

Castletown were pleased with their win on Saturday, particularly as the youth element in the side performed so well. Sam Riordan and Richard Jackson rescued the side from 47 for 5 and Jackson also shone with the ball. His haul of four wickets for six runs, together with Scott Weaver's three wickets was very impressive.

Weaver now goes up against his old club Ramsey who suffered at the hands of Crosby. Skipper Rob Webber injured his hand and might be a doubtful starter. It could be a long, hard slog in the field for the northern club.

RESULTS

Union Mills 59 (Joey James 11, Josh James 9 : Mark Walker 4 -24, Connor Gilbert 2 -1, Colin Gilbert 2 -10); Peel and St John's B 60 for 3 (Alex Williamson 29no, Colin Gilbert 15no : Chris Nash 2 -18, Matt Killip 1-12). Peel and St John's won by seven wickets.

Crosby B 139 for 6 (Jack Rowlands 58, Martyn Oates 19 : Christian Penswick 2 -11, C Leaton 2 -24); Ramsey B 72 for 3 (Tom Howard 40, Andy Ball 11 : Joe Rothwell 3 -8). Rain stopped play – Crosby win on higher run rate.