BARNOLDSWICK have been struggling this season in the Senior Division of the Jennings Ribblesdale League, with only one win from 10 outings and the handicaps imposed by a player exodus last season taking their toll.

In those circumstances, the rub of the green is rarely beneficial and so it proved in Saturday when the Victory Park men went down by one wicket at home to Oswaldtwistle Immanuel.

Circumstances surrounding the defeat were predictably controversial in such a tight game, the visitors claiming victory off the last ball of the game with only one wicket to fall.

While the fact that Oswaldtwistle were at 151-9 at one stage chasing 170 for victory hints at a Barnoldswick failure to supply the killer thrust when they most needed it, but they were still favourites to get something out of the game when the last ball arrived with their opponents still needing two runs to win.

At that stage the crucial moment of the game arrived. Professional Jeevantha Kulatunga bowled what the umpire determined was a wide, which left Oswaldtwistle on level terms with another delivery from which to claim the winning run.

This they duly did, leaving Barnoldswick seething at the crucial decision.

"The umpire took the view that the last ball was a wide and called it." said Barnoldswick skipper Michael Scothern.

"It probably was a wide, but it was no wider than a number of other deliveries that has passed without penalty earlier in the game. As I explained to the umpire, all we are looking for is consistency and in this instance, the decision was not in line with what had occurred earlier.

"A wide is a wide is a wide whenever it is bowled, whether it is at the start of an innings or in this kind of situation, but it's galling when similar deliveries went unpunished when we batted."

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