Anthony Axford NWCL Conference Round-Up 2024

By Ray Taylor & Coby Donnelly

The Anthony Axford North West Cricket League Conference Premiership came to end with Farnworth being champions and Foulridge 1sts, Astley Bridge, and Ribblesdale Wanderers being relegated.
The closest game in the division was at Bridgeman Park where Farnworth hosted Little Lever. The latter were dismissed for 227 with Naeem Patel top-scoring with 66, complemented with an unbeaten 49 from Ben Blinkhorn-Street. In reply, Farnworth were bowled out for 225 with Aaqib Javed scoring 93.
Ribblesdale Wanderers defeated Foulridge 1sts as Ribblesdale’s Scott Fielding scored 47. Burnley Belvedere hosted Farnworth Social Circle and won by 3 wickets. Nabeel Ur Rahman shined with the new ball for Burnley, taking 7-48.
Jahangir Babar took 5-22 in Barrowford 1sts victory against Astley Bridge. Cherry Tree defeated Salesbury by 113 runs with Cherry Tree’s skipper, Harry Stevenson top-scoring with 64 and Cherry’s Daniel Lord taking 5-16.
The league table ended with Farnworth at the top with 195 points. Little Lever came in second (163), Social Circle in 3rd (154), Read in 4th (151), and Salesbury in 5th (149). Cherry Tree came in 6th place with 141 points, Barrowford 1sts in 7th (137) and Burnley Belvedere 2nds in 8th (131).
9th placed, Ribblesdale Wanderers (123), 10th placed, Astley Bridge (104), and 11th placed, Foulridge 1sts (58) are relegated to the 2nd division.
The three relegated teams will be joined in the second tier by Lostock, Oswaldtwistle Immanuel, Barnoldswick, Blackrod, Brinscall, Burnley Beldevere and Baxenden. Might as well refer to it as ‘B’ division!
The third tier will comprise Earby, Feniscowles, Chatburn, Whalley, Eagley, Tonge, Kearsley, Barrowford, Atherton and Foulridge.
On Saturday There was a century partnership between Raheen Hussain (52) and Cameron Thorne (66) in Padiham’s 223-6. Oliver Tuck took 3-17 for Eagley who reached seventy for the loss of two wickets, but ended up all out for 91.
Tony Tipping took 4-43 in Baxenden’s 177, but ended on the losing side as Blackrod finished on 149.
In a low scoring match, Wayne Cook took 3-25 for Atherton, Tom Mather 4-13 and Archie Stokes 3-6 as Oswaldtwistle Immanuel slid from 37-0 to 58 all out. This was thirteen too many for Atherton as Zameer Hussain captured 8-17.