Accrington v Haslingden
Saturday July 25th 1959

A 4 wicket win over Haslingden at Thorneyholme Road took Accrington into joint 4th place with East Lancs. Professional Bobby Simpson hit his fourth successive unbeaten half century, finishing just 3 runs short of his second century for the club after hitting ten boundaries. Simpson got solid support from Frank Rushton (20), Derek Rushton (19) and Duncan Welbourne (19) as Accrington reached their target of 185 in 124 minutes. Eddie Robinson picked up 3-42 after half centuries from professional Rusi Surti (55) and Gordon Pilkington (51) had helped Haslingden declare on 184-6 after a 2nd wicket stand of 107. Jack Hayton also chipped in with 21 and Bob Maden hit an unbeaten 24 for the visitors. Scorecard

Former Haslingden captain John Winter remembers: "Accrington was always a good wicket to bat on. Bobby Simpson got 97 not out against us. He was a superb catcher in the slips. He caught me off Eddie Robinson at Haslingden. I thought it was four, the ball had gone past him but he caught it. He was only a young chap who was learning the trade. I remember this game well. Simpson got a tremendous number of singles, working the ball. Surti kept saying to me ‘We must stop the fours, but I said no we must stop the ones as well because we were allowing Accrington to rotate the strike. Simpson played a really exceptional innings for a young chap. He really showed that day how to defeat the field. In couldn’t get Rusi to agree with me which was one of the few occasions when he was being adamant. Having said that he finished up with over 1400 runs so he was obviously a player. Again he was a batsman who bowled a bit which was what most clubs used to go for. "