KENDAL sub-pro Mike Smith put on a great batting display under pressure to give Kendal victory against Chorley.

The South African, who plays for Middleton, came into bat in just the third over when Nick Phillips was bowled by Chris Harty to leave the Westmorlanders’ 1-1.

Disaster threatened to strike when Andrew Holdsworth caught out Jack White and the usually-reliant Terry Hunte both for a duck, the former off Billy Smith, Hunte off Harty, as Kendal were teetering on 9-3 in the sixth over.

A score of two off 24 balls for Paul Dodds hardly had Chorley quaking in their boots as Kendal fell to 23-4 in over 13, but Darren Braithwaite helped pull Kendal back from oblivion.

He ably supported Smith as the pair put on 58, with Kendal on a much sounder footing of 81-5 when he was caught by Kieran McCullagh off Iain Critchley for 22 in the 34th over.

During all this Smith was ticking the score along nicely and he scored an excellent 66, including eight fours and one maximim, before he was bowled by Chorley pro Gaurav Dhar.

With Nick Lewthwaite out in the very next ball, Darren Nightingale helped matters immeasurably with an unbeaten 22 as Kendal posted 144-8 off their allotted overs.

The Windsor Park outfit never looked comfortable against one of the best bowling attacks in the Northern Premier League and Jack White’s 4-28, which included the opening three Chorley batsmen, helped dismiss the Lancastrians for 71.

Jack Bentham was the highest scorer for Chorley with 15 before he was bowled by White to leave Chorley 29-4 in the 15th over.

Chris Miller will have been delighted with his 3-13 while Stu Parkin contributed vitally to dismiss Dhar for four when Nightingale caught him.

With Chorley 70-8 going into the 31st over, Nick Lewthwaite was introduced to the attack and he picked up the last two wickets to give him a remarkable figure of 2-1 off his solitary over to give Kendal a comfortable 15-point success.