Anwar Ul-Haq showed his batting pedigree by hitting 84 not out for Radcliffe in their five-wicket victory over Oldham in the Central Lancashire League on Sunday, writes Joshua Rogers.

The professional, who has played in Pakistan, has chosen to bat for the Championship side this year, and his class showed from the outset as he led his side to a 147 for 5 win.

Captain Chris Berry wasn’t surprised with his debut for the club.

“It was a fantastic start. I knew what to expect from him when he first decided to play for us.”

“It was a lot of fun watching him bat. You can tell straight away he’s played at a high level.”

“He did get lucky a few times though, they dropped three fairly routine catches, but sometimes you need that kind of luck.”

The right-hander also showed off his bowling prowess, taking wickets from Oldham opener Hamza Hussain and Adnan Shafiq.

Indeed all of Radcliffe’s bowlers played well, holding Oldham to just 146 runs with four overs to spare.

Oldham won the toss and elected to bat first but struggled to get any rhythm due to some good bowling from Radcliffe.

Saif Uh- Rehman, Daniel Robinson, Raheel Majeed all managed to take wickets, but Jimmy Dixon’s performance was the highlight, taking four in what was an impressive display.

Berry said, “The bowling unit as a whole played superbly. Once they get going like that they are hard to stop.”

“You could tell Jimmy wanted to start the season well and taking four wickets is a good way to do that.”

“We could have bowled them out for less than 146, but we got the result and that’s all that matters.”

The match featured last year’s two worst teams, but Radcliffe look to have improved significantly since then, and Berry is confident of the season ahead.

“Last year we were a young and inexperienced team. Now with Anwar and some of the other players we’ve added I think we can make a series challenge for promotion.”

“We just have to stay focused and if we continue to play like we did against Oldham we have every chance.”

The win sees Radcliffe into second place in the First XI Championship Division of the Central Lancashire Cricket League, with one game played.

Radcliffe’s next game is on Sunday against new team Heyside, who beat Werneth in their opening game by five wickets.

Speaking about the game Berry said, “It will be an interesting match. They are the new team so playing them will give us a good indication of where we are at.”

“Both them and Middleton won their opening games, so it’s important keep up the pressure and follow our result up with another positive one.”

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