Nelson will travel to Haslingden in the Worsley Cup semi-finals a week on Sunday after seeing off Rawtenstall by 26 runs on Saturday at Seedhill.
Nelson won the toss, elected to bat, and Chris Heap and Tyler McGladdery took the score to 52 in the 16th over when Heap was bowled by Abbas Ahmad for 17. Ryan Canning helped young McGladdery add 82 for the second wicket. Following his maiden league 50 at Burnley last Sunday, the 16-year-old hit 10 fours and a six in his 73. Canning lost David Crotty (12) and Neil Thompson (3), but still managed to progress beyond 50 with the aid of six boundaries. Max Howells hit five fours in a bright and breezy 32 but Canning could only add one more boundary as he finished on 74 not out, as Nelson made 240-7.
Rawtenstall opened their innings with Sam Kershaw and Chris Cook-Martin, who put on 96 before the latter was caught behind immediately after reaching his 50. Professional Brett Pelser continued the assault and, with 12 overs still remaining, the score had advanced to 167-1. However, Pelser was out at this point, neatly caught on the long-off boundary by Harrison Phelan off Adil Ali for 27.
From that moment on, the run-chase petered out. Kershaw, after hitting 11 fours in a valiant 91, hit one straight to Richard Meade at mid-wicket to give Simon Doane his first wicket. Doane also claimed the wickets of Rizwan Shafiq (2) and veteran Vinny Hanson (7) to finish with 3-47. The pick of the Nelson bowlers was Ali, as he claimed 2-34.
The following day, Nelson entertained East Lancashire in the league and won by seven wickets. East Lancs won the toss and, chose to bat. Howells picked up the wicket of Mo Bhada with the aid of a fine catch by Thompson at mid-wicket with the score on 24. Usama Chaudhary was just beginning to score freely when he was bowled by Doane for 32 and, at the half way stage, the visitors were 64-2. There were steady innings from Mini Bhada (20), professional Ockeret Erasmus (27) and Ben Westhead (14) but all fell to Thompson, who took 3-45 from 17 overs. Ali also collected 3-44 as East Lancs were all out for 181.
Nelson’s innings got off to a poor start with both openers Heap and McGladdery victims of Mini Bhada for one run each. Canning and Crotty, however, scored freely, putting on 122 when Crotty became Mini Bhada’s third victim, smartly stumped by Matt Egan for 57.
Nelson required 54 from 11 overs, but runs were scarce. Thompson relieved the pressure by hitting Erasmus for a couple of sixes and Canning brought proceedings to a close when he hit his eighth four to finish undefeated on 74. Thompson was still with him with 31 as Nelson won with seven balls to spare.
Nelson are at Enfield on Sunday.