In-form Premiership side Salesbury held on to win a thriller away at Blackrod in Saturday’s round of Anthony Axford North West Cricket League matches.

Salesbury won by four runs defending a 45-over target of 209 to win their fourth successive league match, this against a Blackrod side who contributed so much to this fixture but failed to get 12 off the last over from Chris Boardman to finish on 204-8.

Salesbury are fifth in the top flight with seven wins from 12, while Blackrod in 10th are hovering just above the bottom two places.

South African professional Juan James top-scored with 64 off 75 balls in Salesbury’s 208-8 before he struck three times with his off-spin in a nail-biting defence.

In the Championship, second-placed Eagley are now just five points behind leaders Earby thanks to a five-wicket win chasing 150 at home to bottom side Oswaldtwistle Immanuel.

Earby – nine wins from 13 games, 119 points – didn’t play on Saturday, and Eagley (114) took advantage of their game in hand to also win for the ninth time in 13.

Harvey Seigne was their standout performer in a 10-point triumph. He struck three times in Oswaldtwistle’s 149-7 before top-scoring with 55 not out off 97 balls in a reply which was only realistically threatened at 8-1.

Premiership champions Farnworth Social Circle continued their strong title defence with a 161-run home win against Padiham, but not one which was without alarm.

League leaders Social Circle slipped to 101-5, only to recover to an imposing 45-over total of 266-7.

Daniel Hughes from number seven was one of their heroes with a brilliant 95 not out off 79 balls, including 10 sixes. He shared a sixth-wicket 111 with Bajan professional Jameel Stuart, who contributed a more measured 81 off 82.

In reply, Padiham were overwhelmed and bowled out for 105. New-ball seamer Dave Mather returned 6-47 from 9.2 overs having taken the new ball.

Social Circle (139 points) won for the 11th time in 13th against a Padiham side who remain third, but only because fourth-placed Read were beaten away at Farnworth by eight wickets defending a target of 169.

Sixth-placed Farnworth’s sixth win in 13 was achieved as they bowled Read out for 168, with South African OA Corne Kennedy taking four wickets. 

Pakistani pro Abdul Bangalzai then hit a brilliant 116 not out off 127 balls opening the batting in a straightforward chase.

Wins for leaders Social Circle and second-placed Little Lever – the latter at home to Tonge – and defeats for Padiham and Read means there’s a significant gap having formed between the top two and the rest.

The title race is now realistically a two-horse race, with Little Lever (135 points) 23 ahead of Padiham in third but only four behind Social Circle.

Little Lever beat Tonge by 76 runs at home on the back of a 175-8 total.

Mukhtar Nasir top-scored with a measured 66 not out to recover the hosts from 109-7 before Curtis Anderton and Andy Flear took four wickets each as Tonge were bowled out for 99.

Second-bottom Barnoldswick boosted their hopes of survival with a 25-run home victory over Astley Bridge in a battle of the two sides promoted last season.

Barnoldswick’s 170-8 was centred around Australian pro Trent Riddell’s 46 and 45 for West Indian OA Deron Greaves. They shared a third-wicket 89 from 55-2.

Muhammad Azmat then impressed for 5-26 from 15 overs as Bridge were bowled out for 145.

Barnoldswick’s third win in 12 games moves them to 39 points, 17 behind Blackrod, who have played a game more.

Seventh-placed Kearsley won for the sixth time in 13 against a spirited Lostock side, who remain bottom without a win and having lost 12 of 13 games this summer.

Lostock were bowled out for 149 as Irfan Kareem and Jack Scott claimed three wickets each. Kearsley’s reply then slipped from 87-0 to 111-7 before an unbeaten 25 from Kareem got the hosts over the line by two wickets.

Earlier, openers Mohmedruhan Tirmizi and Byron Giraudeaux, their South African overseas amateur, had contributed 55 and 50 to Kearsley’s sixth win in 13.

Back in the Championship, and Atherton are very much in the promotion race thanks to an entertaining, high-scoring nine-run win away at third-placed Baxenden, one in which Zeeshan Aslam took a brilliant 7-68 from 15 overs. 

Sawan Kankanange hit a fabulous 102 not out off 124 balls to underpin Atherton’s 261-5 before Baxenden, at one stage 172-2, finished on 252-9. 

Aslam then defended 18 off the last over. 

Atherton are now fourth on 94 points thanks to their sixth win in 12. They are 20 behind second-placed Eagley with a game in hand.

Cherry Tree’s promotion hopes were dealt a blow by a home defeat against mid-table Ribblesdale Wanderers, whose fifth win in 13 games was achieved by 119 runs.

Wanderers posted 232-9 thanks to a series of useful contributions added to Bajan OA Dario Boyce-Malcolm’s 52. 

Sri Lankan pro Heshan Dhanushka then spun the visitors to victory with 6-27 from 9.1 overs in Cherry Tree’s 113 all out. Cherry Tree started the day in fourth but lost for the sixth time in 13 matches and are now fifth.

Mid-table Walkden beat Brinscall by seven wickets chasing 122.

A home win – Walkden’s fifth in 13 games – was set up by three wickets apiece for Mubarak Gajra and Sri Lankan pro Kavindu Amantha as Brinscall were bowled out for 121. 

Gajra returned notable figures of 3-10 from seven before a routine chase was led by Syed Azam Shah’s 50 off 37 balls, the opener retiring not out with the score on 89.

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Saturday July 18 – Premiership: Astley Bridge v Blackrod, Lostock v Little Lever, Padiham v Kearsley, Read v Farnworth Social Circle, Salesbury v Farnworth, Tonge v Barnoldswick. Championship: Atherton v Brinscall, Oswaldtwistle Immanuel v Earby, Ribblesdale Wanderers v Eagley, Walkden v Cherry Tree. 

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Lostock are confident they will be better for the experience of a difficult 2026 campaign, says honorary secretary Mitch Cregan.

The Chew Moor Lane club are yet to win a first-team league match this summer and are likely to be relegated from the Anthony Axford North West Cricket League’s Premiership division.

They have lost 12 of 13 matches, with the other abandoned because of rain. Their latest defeat came away at Kearsley on Saturday, through it oh so nearly produced a victory.

Bowled out for 149, they fought impressively with the ball to reduce Kearsley from 87-0 to 111-7 before just being thwarted. Kearsley won by two wickets, with Irfan Kareem taking three wickets and hitting a crucial unbeaten 25 down the order.

For Lostock, Australian overseas amateur Lucas Cavigan impressed with 67 not out opening the batting, while Pakistani professional Abdul Rehman and George Jackson took four wickets each in their spirited defence.

“It’s been a challenging season, obviously, and disappointing with the way the results have gone,” said Cregan. “But, being realistic, we’ve probably lost six or seven players over the last two seasons who’ve been the backbone.

“James Evans captained us last season and has gone over to Read, Sam Barlow’s gone back to Flixton and Matt Lamb has semi-retired. They were in our top three or four batters. A clutch of injuries also haven’t helped.

“We’re now at the stage we probably were 15-20 years ago when we dropped out of the Bolton Association and down to the Manchester Association. We have a lot of very promising youngsters who perhaps aren’t quite ready for first-team cricket.

“Using the Manchester Association analogy again. It was probably a lesser standard of cricket than the Bolton Association at the time. And it allowed us to give the younger lads a chance to grow in the first team. By the time we came back to the Bolton Association around 2014, we were a lot stronger.

“The young lads had got three or four seasons under their belt, a bit of confidence and were ready for taking on a more difficult task.

“I suspect the next couple of seasons will follow a similar pattern.”

Along with his involvement at Lostock, Cregan is also the scorer for Lancashire Thunder women. His son James is the club’s second-team captain.

As Mitch mentioned, they have a new first-team captain following James Evans’s winter departure to Read. All-rounder Harry Jackson has taken over the reins.

“Harry’s doing well,” he said. “It’s been a trying season for him. He’s inherited a team that’s been stripped of its main assets, and he’s doing the best he can with what he’s got.

“He’s a young lad in his mid-twenties, and I’ve got to say, ‘I’ve been very impressed by the way he’s gone about a lot of the stuff he’s done’. He’s been thrown in at the deep end, and the only thing which is missing really is results. 

“Off the field, he’s generated a good atmosphere.

 

“There’s a good atmosphere around the club.

“If you went back to the club on Saturday night, you would see that side of the club is fine. It’s just the results side of things. And that will come.

“That’s cyclical, isn’t it. 

“Two or three years ago, we were winning trophies and getting to finals. We’re in a bit of a trough at the minute, but it will turn again.

“As I say, everything off the field is going superbly. 

“We had a period where we were nomads for 10 years, we shared a ground with Haydock. But, in 2017, we got our own ground. We now have a thriving function room, and we get more people coming down to watch us on match-days.

“Those of us who were involved in keeping it going during the hard times – that time when we were in the Manchester Association – it’s so rewarding to see where the club is now. The people who have taken it on since we stepped back a little bit, they deserve every credit.

“We have five junior teams and then 20 or 30 kids who are involved at Under 7s and feed into the Under 9s and the other junior teams. We have some very promising juniors.

“We pride ourselves on going down the traditional route of only paying a pro, so the worry is that they will get poached a bit further down the line.”

Cregan is expecting Cavigan, Lostock’s OA, and their emerging pro Rehman – both batting all-rounders – to show their best form during the second half of the summer, with Saturday positive in that sense.

“Hopefully we can get a few good results between now and September to build that confidence within the squad,” added Cregan.

“Since 2014, when we came back to the Bolton Association and then the Bolton League and now the NWCL, we’ve effectively been in the top section of whichever league we’ve been in. Going down this year will be a blow in that sense, but it’s probably for the best on reflection.

“I can’t see us romping away with the Championship next season, but at least it’ll be a more even season. I think we’ll get as many wins as we get defeats, and hopefully we just get more wins than we do defeats and see where it takes us.

“It’s something that’s possibly come at the right time so we can get these young lads more experience at a slightly lower level and we can reap the benefits in a couple of years.”