CURRENT Cross Cup holders Bury failed to make it into successive finals after crashing out to Blackrod at the semi-final stage on Sunday.

The Radcliffe Road men were comfortably beaten by five wickets as the Vicarage Road side set up a repeat of the 2011 final with Flixton.

Bury started well as skipper Sean Gibson scored 38 and Simon Belston hit 37, but with their team-mates failing to stamp their mark on the game they were capped at 198-8. Mattthew Stears (3-23), Chris Sanderson (2-25) and Joe Speak (2-35) did the damage with the ball.

In reply, Jack Southworth (76) and Thusendra de Zoysa (65) led their side to victory with the bat putting on a 135-run partnership at the second wicket to book Blackrod's place in their fifth Cross Cup final.

They will be joined by a side gunning for revenge from the 2011 final in Flixton who defeated Winton.

The Lawrence Road side – whose only final appearance came four years ago – had their deputy professional Usman Tariq to thank as he starred with both the bat and ball.

Richard Johnson (37) and Kyle Humphrys (29) both scored high as Winton were bowled out for 138 – Tariq was the pick of the bowlers posting figures of 4-15.

But when the clubs top run-scorer Luke Perry was bowled out in the first over the reply looked a lot more difficult – that was until Tariq turned his hand to the bat and blasted his way to 90no and in doing so cemented Flixton's place in the final.

The final is due to be played on Sunday, August 9 with the venue still to be confirmed.