By Mike Cregan

For once this season neither of the Anthony Axford Northwest Cricket League Conferences saw a change in leadership, although in the South Conference Farnworth Social Circle moved level with their neighbours at the top of the table.

Social swept aside another of their local rivals Kearsley by a massive 193 runs. Kearsley were set a target of 236 and had virtually no answer to the bowling of Chris Walsh who took a remarkable 5/3 and Lewis Whittle 3/33 as they collapsed to just 33 all out in under 12 overs. Walsh had earlier made 30 as they struggled to 54-5 before a stand of 70 between Chris Lane 59 and Keane Mulligan 57 helped them recover to 230-9 despite 3 wickets each for Jack Scott & Andy Gregory.

Farnworth maintained their title challenge as they defeated Atherton by 113 runs at Bridgeman Park. Once again their batters were in fine form as they rattled up 291-6 with Chris Baxendale making 106, Rizwan Pervez 44 and Bilal Khan 41*. Greg Greenough led the Atherton reply with 85 but only Dale Tyrer 22 offered a great deal of support as Zahid Butt took 4/36 and Sam Bradley 3/51 in a total of 178.

Lostock defeated Eagley by 6 wickets at Chew Moor as they chased down a target of 177 with 6 overs to spare. Asghar Ali led the chase with 70 with useful support from Aaron Berriman who chipped in with 25. Eagley had made 176 mainly thanks to Adam Roberts who made 54, Craig Faulkner 33 and Sam Hall 28 as Ali added 3/29 to his runs and Tom Gregory took 3/54.

Astley Bridge enjoyed a comfortable win as they swept aside Walkden by 110 runs at The Oval. Batting first they compiled a healthy 208-6 with Ishy Patel making 64, Rob Hitchen 50, Ady Cooper 27 and Hashim Akhtar 26* as the home side shared out the wickets. Arslan Khan then played a lone hand who made 59 before being forced to retire out of a total of 98 in reply as Faiz Khanda and Hashim Akhtar each grabbed 4 wickets.

Tonge and Little Lever fought out a low scoring game at Castle Hill before the latter emerged on top by 13 runs. Tonge were set a target of 76 after they bowled out their visitors for 75 but apart from Luca Donnelly who made 17 had little answer to the bowling of Matt Mills who took 6/31. Lever also struggled with the bat as George Leather took 5/49 and Dan Holt 4/24 with only Ryan Worden making much headway with 22.

Barrowford remain top of the North Conference after a hard fought 3 wicket win at Burnley Belvedere. The home side made 151-9 as Abdul Shakoor hit 25 and Ali Akbar 22 despite Mohammed Yaqoob and Ulfat Ali each taking 3 wickets. Ali then added 28 and Imran Akhtar 27 and Zaraq Ali 22 to see the leaders home as Seroze Hussain and Umair Saadat took 3 wickets apiece.

Salesbury sit a point behind them after defeating Baxenden by 5 wickets at Ribchester Road. Set a target of 176 they chased it down with some 15 overs to spare as Ben Riley made 49, Harvey Vause 46 and Toby Furbush 35. Baxenden’s 175 was built around 49 from Haider Ali and 35 from Adam Nawaz with Sam Bristol, Dan Rawson and Haany Nasir each taking 3 wickets.

Read moved up to a share of 3^rd place following an emphatic 10 wicket win over Burnley Belvedere 2nds. Conor Lowes 72* and Mohammed Zakriyah 32* made very short work of a target of 109 after they had bowled out Burnley for 108. A Z Syed made 37 and the tail wagged a little to get the score over 100 for Burnley but the rest of the batting struggled as Andrew Bennett, Jamie Woodall and Warren Eastham all grabbed 3 wickets.

Padiham were another side to secure a 10 wicket win as they swept aside Foulridge 2nds at home. Foulridge had seemed well placed as they reached 50-1 with Muhammed Khadam making 36 only to lose their remaining 9 wickets in adding a further 38 runs as Harry Starkie took 3/5. Kevin Hitchon and and Joe Edgar knocked off the runs with some ease.

Cherry Tree and Chatburn fought out an exciting game before the home side eventually managed to get home by 3 wickets. Chatburn had slumped to 54-6 but 88 from Mark Nerenberg inspired a fightback with Marcus Harrison adding 20 they managed to post 197 despite Alex Fenwick taking 5/34 and Charlie Errey 3/45. Errey then made 36 as Cherry Tree eventually got home for the loss of 7 wickets, Kevin Read adding 43*, Dan Lord 31 and Harry Stevenson 21* whilst Chris Mulhearn took 3/53.

Barrowford 2nds also managed a 3 wicket win as they edged past a Whalley total of 164 with 7 down. Waqas Pervez led the chase with 50 with Abdul Waqas giving good support with 36. Earlier Liam Boyle had helped set up the Whalley total with 41 with Nisaar Hissain adding 34 and Ehtesham Ali 28 while Noman Shah took 4/17 and Junaid Mohammed 3/23.

There was an even closer finish at Earby where the home side eventually managed to see off a determined Settle side with just 1 wicket standing. Stephen Hipgrave’s unbeaten 34 eventually saw his side over the line after Jason Lockley had made 20 to make the efforts of John Tarbox 4/31 and Harris Dinsdale 4/34 in vain. Hipgrave had earlier taken 3/19 and Joshua Bond 3/13 as Settle were dismissed for 137 with the main runscorers being Andrew Fry 26 and Elliot Marklew 21.

Another exciting finish came at New Lane where Oswaldtwistle Immanuel eventually got the better of Stacksteads by 2 wickets. Anwar Mahmood made the most significant contribution to a Stacksteads total of 120 but nobody else really got going as the Ossy bowlers spread out the wickets. Ossy got off to a steady start reaching 43 for the 1^st wicket with James Clark making 25 before a spell of 5/45 from Luke Davies almost swung the game the way of the visitors.

The final game of the day was a low scoring affair which saw Ribblesdale Wanderers beat Barnoldswick by 8 wickets at Church Meadow. The visitors batted first and soon found themselves deep in trouble at 8 for 6 and it was only thanks to an unbeaten 25 from Shazab Ali that they managed to post a meagre 48. Graeme Kershaw took 3/6 and Joel Blackedge 2/3 for Ribb. Stephen Tandy then made an unbeaten 26 to steer the home side to the win.