Defending champions Little Lever suffered a shock Hamer Cup quarter-final defeat at home to second-tier Atherton on Sunday.
Atherton, Farnworth and Eagley – the latter inspired by a brilliant individual display from their Pakistani professional Danish Aziz – all made it through to semi-finals on August 2, while Kearsley or Read will join them. Those two play each other next Sunday.
That tie, with Kearsley the hosts, wasn’t played on Sunday due to Read’s involvement in the sixth round of the National Village Cup. They were knocked out at the sixth round stage by Durham side Sacriston.
Championship promotion chasers Atherton triumphed at Premiership title chasers Little Lever by 23 runs defending a 40-over target of 230.
Having elected to bat, Atherton were powered to 229-4 thanks to opener Oliver Gredecki’s well-paced 84 off 115 balls with nine fours and four sixes.
From 36-1, he shared a second-wicket partnership of 129 with Sawan Kankanange, who contributed a run-a-ball 67, and then 56 for the third wicket with Indian professional Raghavendra Pratap, who chipped in with an important 46 off 33.
James Richards struck twice for Little Lever, who would still have been confident of chasing the target. And even more so at 137-2 in the 27th over with opener Cameron Murray unbeaten on 56.
However, when he fell to Zeeshan Aslam, it proved a hammer blow and caused a loss of momentum. Ultimately, they finished on 206-8, also including South African pro JP King’s 52.
Aslam finished with 3-30 from his eight overs, while Bajan overseas amateur Jamaine Bullen struck twice, as did Kankanange.
There was success for another Championship side in Eagley.
In fact, they won a tie played out between the two teams sitting first and second in that league, with Earby leading the way at present.
But it was Eagley who prevailed, by 60 runs.
Inserted away from home, Eagley totalled 194-8 thanks to a stunning opening 137 not out off 128 balls from the aforementioned Aziz.
He hit 15 fours and six sixes in an innings which saw nobody else reach 30.
Aziz had quite the day because he also returned 4-40 from eight overs of left-arm spin in Earby’s 134 all out, They were all but done for at 69-7, with former captain Jack Wainman also impressing with 4-25 from his seven overs. Luke Hipgrave’s 41 was a consolatory effort.
Farnworth’s hopes of silverware are still alive after a four-wicket home win in a Premiership versus Championship clash against Cherry Tree.
They chased 134 with more than six overs remaining, with captain Tayler-Jay Heyes and Simon Booth leading the way with 40 and 29 respectively.
Earlier, Cherry Tree had been bowled out for 133 as Ben Chapman and Matthew Hicks returned 3-25 and 3-29 from their respective eight-over spells. Wicketkeeper-batter Sebastian Radler top-scored with a middle-order 37, but there was little else to shout about for the visitors.
Farnworth were briefly threatened at 29-2 but recovered confidently.
In the Village Cup, also a 40-overs per side competition, Read were beaten by six wickets away at Sacriston, who play in the second tier of the North East Premier League.
Read posted 216-8 thanks largely to Joe Marshall’s 63, with home new-ball bowler Cameron Marshall claiming three wickets.
Sacriston captain and opener Nathan Hall then led a dominant chase with 111 not out off 92 balls, while Caspar Stone contributed 66 from number three.
Thomas Andrew struck twice for Read, who were given brief hope when Sacriston fell from 152-0 to 179-4. But they just had too much to do.
