IN a nail-biting finish Chorley fell agonisingly short of their victory target at West Cliff.

Chorley were just five runs away from securing a 12-point win when Preston professional Rauf Akbar clean bowled Andy Holdsworth to give the home side the points.

The Pakistani paceman took six wickets for just 65 runs, on top of making 62 runs, in what proved to be a match winning performance.

Having been put in to bat, Preston made a strong start.

Chorley bowled several maiden overs but when Preston made hits they tended to find the boundary and from their final total of 193 runs, 124 of them came in fours and sixes.

The substance to the Preston effort came in a stand of 102 between Akbar and debutant Seadon after Preston had only reached three figures in the 42nd over.

Seadon finally departed for 47 while Akbar top scored with 62 as the home side finished with a far higher total than had seemed likely for most of their innings.

Chorley were soon in trouble at 51/4 with Heaton, Ian Mawdesley, Nick Woods and the talismanic Tom Smith all back in the hutch.

Ian Oakes and professional Stephen John set about righting the ship and added 87 before John departed for 26. Neil Senior and Paul Greenwood didn't last long and when Ian Oakes was stumped for a Chorley-best score of 64, the scoreboard read 158/8 and a home win seemed assured.

Grav Dhar and Billy Smith, however, produced a feisty stand to take it to 189 before Akbar bowled Dhar with a peach of a delivery.

Four runs later it was all over with Smith left unbeaten on 28 after an absorbing match.

Preston could find themselves in trouble with the league, however, after taking three and a half hours to bowl their overs - a pathetically slow over rate.

Chorley took four points from the match to leave them in fifth spot in the league, 13 points behind leaders Netherfield. They have no match this weekend.

Final score: Preston 197/7 Chorley 193