By Mike Cregan

With the weather taking a turn for the worse last weekend many of the games in the Anthony Axford Northwest Cricket League Conferences were decided with the help of the dreaded DLS system with thankfully just one of the twelve games being abandoned.

Farnworth remain top of the Conference South after defeating nearest rivals Astley Bridge by 47 runs on the DLS method. Batting first they were restricted to what for them this season was a relatively low 220 in 38 overs as Faiz Khandu returned 6/47 despite 85 from Chris Baxendale and 67 from Zahid Butt. Bridge were then set a revised target of 180 but 3 wickets each for Simon Harrison and Sam Bradley helped bowl them out for 133 even though Zain Ahmed made 53, Zahid Makkan 32 and Ishy Patel 20.

Lostock continued their revival with a 7 wicket win at Atherton, when they found themselves 71-3 chasing 142 after 20 overs which proved enough for a win on DLS. Aaron Berriman top scored for them with 20. Earlier Dale Tyrer had carried his bat through the innings with 85* as Atherton made 141-9. Such was his domination that the next highest score was 13 as Tom Gregory and Ryan Crombie each took 3 wickets.

Walkden completed a comprehensive 10 wicket win over Eagley before the rains came after bowling out their visitors for just 35 in under 11 overs. Five of Eagley’s top score recorded ducks as Adil Sajjad 6/22 and Mehran Anwar 4/13 proved virtually unplayable. Walkden knocked off the runs for a nice early finish.

The game at Blackrod proved to be the day’s only casualty with the home well placed on 26-1 chasing Kearsley’s total of 96 all out. Grant Cordin 21 and Josh Roscoe provided the bulk of the Walkden runs as Ewan Philips took 6/46 and Lucas Stevenson 3/14.

Barrowford continue to lead Conference North and maintained their position with a 52 run win over Ribblesdale Wanderers at Bull Holme. Batting first they were able to post 227-9 thanks mainly to a fourth wicket stand of 110 between Jehangir Babar 51 and Hamid Bushy 66 as Joel Blackledge took 4/52. Ribb’s reply followed a similar pattern with the bulk of their runs also coming in a 4^th wicket stand of 86 between Stephen Tandy 53 and Luke Spencer 33 but Ulfat Ali’s 3/30 helped restrict them to 175.

Salesbury lie second following a 58 run win at Foulridge where the home side were dismissed for 111 in pursuit of  a target of 170. Liam Parkinson’s 4/30 undermined their chase with only Sardar Asghar 21 and Ajaml Chaudhry 23 getting going with the bat. Salesbury had made 169-8 as Tom Wilson made 31, Toby Furbush 28 and Nick Green 27 all chipped in with useful knocks with Mohammed Haroon taking 4/55.

Third placed Read came unstuck at Padiham where despite having 6 wickets in hand they found themselves 6 runs short of the home side’s 134 all out. Elliot Lowes made 42, Mohammed Zafran 40 and Conor Lowes 28 as they fell agonisingly short. Lowes had earlier taken 4/29 as he and Andrew Bennett 3/44 to dismiss Padiham for 134 with Kevin Hitchon making 47 and Lewis Meehan 26.

Barnoldswick enjoyed a hard fought win over Chatburn in a relatively low scoring game at Barlick. The depleted visitors were bowled out for just 90 with only Ashley Bennett’s 33 providing much resistance as Haseeb Hanif helped himself to 6/32. Any thoughts of an easy win were dispelled though as Andrew Booth took 4/46 but Osama Mahmood’s 34 helped secure the win.

Earby and Stacksteads fought out a cracking game which eventually saw the visitors come out on top by just 10 runs. They posted a very handy 173-7 despite a useful spell of 3/17 from Alex Hall, with good knocks coming from Tom Thompson 46, Ansar Mahmood 51 and Andrew Holt who hit 27*. Earby fell just short as they responded with 163-9 with Hall adding 35 to his earlier wickets, Martin Windle making 46, Joe Swarbrick 22 and Jason Lockley 21 but 4 wickets each for Max Hussey and Attique Khan helped seal the win.

Whalley travelled to New Lane to face Oswaldtwistle Immanuel and left with a comfortable 75 run success after dismissing the home side for just 97 despite a stand of 70 for the fourth wicket between Maneeb Alam 39 and Tony Dignan 27 as Monty Cort took 4/20 and Nisar Hissain 3/47. Whalley’s total of 172-7 was very much a team effort as Ehtesham Ali top scored with 36 whilst Liam Boyle, Ed Burrow, Haroon Nazir and Raza Hussain all got into the 20’s,  Wasim Hussain taking 4/65.

Settle enjoyed a comfortable 7 wicket home win over Barrowford 2nds after bowling out their visitors for just 90. Just 4 batters reached double figures in the innings with a top score of 16 as Nick Cokell enjoyed himself with the ball taking 5/20. Settle then raced home inside 14 overs with Paul Clarke making 42* and Harvey Green 20.

Finally in the battle for bragging rights at Holden Road Burnley Belvedere 1sts just managed to see off the 2nds by 3 wickets using the DLS method. The 2nds had batted first and were bowled out for just 110 as Abdul Shakoor returned 6/42 even though Husnain Ateeq made 32 and Avanish Mishra 20. Mishra then took 4/49 and Aadil Hussain 3/31 as the 1sts reached 91-7 which was enough to secure the win on DLS with Zaeem Shah making 22 and Abdul Shakoor 26.