Greenmount’s first eleven suffered a third consecutive defeat when they were comprehensively seen off by Norden at Woodhouse Lane on Saturday.
The home side won the toss and put the Mount in to bat but once again an inability to put enough runs on the board – courtesy of six ducks in the innings – came back to bite them in the derriere.
Openers Evan Williams and pro Chesney Hughes made a steady start before Williams (14) was bowled with the score on 32.
Incoming batsman Andy Kerr didn’t last long with Hughes as he was dismissed without scoring four runs later.
Hughes (28) was the next departure on 68 followed by Matt Donnelly a run later before an encouraging 62-run partnership between Tom Heaton (41) and Dan Stevens (33) gave the villagers a modicum of hope of reaching a total that would give them a fighting chance.
Depressingly, that light at the end of the tunnel proved to be an oncoming train as 131 for 5 became 136 all out with five wickets falling in 14 balls with former Mount professional Ashar Zaidi taking 4 for 31.
The Greenmount bowlers looked to have an unenviable task defending that total against the strong Norden side and so it proved.
Due to rain stoppages, the home side were given a revised target of 140 from 36 overs.
There was an early success for Callum Hunter when he had Hashum Malik caught behind with the score on 19 but Malik’s impressive fellow opener Josh Tolley took matters into his own hands and was unbeaten on 82 when Norden eased home in the 22nd over for the loss of only two wickets.
This latest reverse – a third without picking up any bonus points – leaves the Mount clearly mired in a relegation battle and with seven league games to go it’s imperative they get back to winning ways quickly or face a speedy return to Division Two.
Meanwhile, Oli Dixon’s second eleven kept up their recent good form with victory over Great Harwood twos at the Log Cabin.
After winning the toss and electing to bat the Mount posted a total of 251 for 8 from a rain-affected 35 overs.
Leading the way with the bat was Kieran Edwards who scored a dazzling 80 which included six fours and four sixes. The evergreen Andy Bowker hit eleven fours in his innings of 54 while opener Henry Dickinson scored a useful 33.
The visitors never looked likely to reach that total despite a good third wicket partnership of 90 between Andrew Brown (44) and Freddie Timmins (49) and they fell well short on 177 for 7 at the death.
Skipper Dixon took 3 for 44, Ryan Edge 2 for 46 and there was a wicket apiece for Adam Clarke and Alex Bullen.
On Sunday it was a missed opportunity for the seconds to make further headway towards the top of the table when their home clash against Nelson seconds fell foul to the weather.
Opener Jake Chadwick was going well on 56 not out before the heavens opened with the Mount score on 111 for 2 from 17 overs.
The abandonment was all the more frustrating as on the Sunday the fixture was supposed to be played a few weeks ago, the weather was glorious but unfortunately the visitors were unable to field a team.
It was a similar story for the third team at Norden when the home side were 34 for 0 when the match was abandoned due to rain.
