For the second week in a row they lost heavily to Worsley Cup opponents Accrington and selectors will be hoping that the timely return from injury of captain Jon Henderson and batting stalwart Stuart Priestley will give them the boost to make it third time lucky when the final is staged at Centre Vale next weekend.

At Thorneyholme Lane on Saturday they simply couldn’t get enough runs on the board after choosing to bat first in a game reduced to 28 overs per side.

Simon Newbitt fell for 14 with the score on 30 but a good partnership between Ben Sutcliffe and professional Goolam Bodi put on 65 for the second wicket at a good rate of knots.

Bodi became the subject of national newspaper scrutiny during the week with Neil Manthorp writing in The Guardian how it was Kwazulu Natal Dolphins’ decision to pick him over Kevin Pietersen ten years ago that prompted Pietersen that his future would be best served by qualifying to play for England.

While Pietersen has become a test regular Bodi has proved to be a solid state player and a good professional in England.

Indeed his performances with bat and ball at Centre Vale mean that he must be in the committee’s thinking as a professional for next season.

However, Bodi’s prowess with the all-conquering 20/20 version of the game could cause some problems.

He was part of the pool of players “auctioned” for the inaugural IPL season in India but was not picked up.