By Mike Cregan

The weather continued to play havoc with games in the Anthony Axford Northwest Cricket League Conference divisions as what should have been a busy double header weekend was decimated by the seemingly never ending rain.

The South Conference saw only two games manage to get started on Saturday with 23 overs possible for Blackrod against Farnworth SC which saw them reach 93-5 (Nikhil Patel 37, Brad Barrow 3/26) and Eagley reaching 60-3 in 20 overs against leaders Farnworth after Oli Tuck made 26.

Sunday, however, saw all five games reach a conclusion albeit a couple of them with the help of the Duckworth Lewis Stern method. There was a shock at Springfield Road where hosts Kearsley inflicted a first league defeat of the season on Farnworth winning by 22 runs on the DLS method. Kearsley made 122 in a stop start first innings with Fenton Davies hitting 31 and Mohshin Patel 25 as Simon Harrison took 5/47 and Rizwan Pervez 3/13. Farnworth were set a revised target of 135 in 31 overs and for once their batting failed as they slumped to 39-6 before Mehr Khan’s 38 briefly raised hopes but Jack Scott’s 7/31 proved decisive.

Astley Bridge remain second after a hard fought 3 wicket win over Blackrod at Sharples Park. Chasing a target of 117, Will Ashworth’s 3/44 pegged them back but Zain Ahmed with 36 and Jack Bailey saw their side home. Ashworth had earlier top scored with 30 in a Blackrod total of 116-9 with Nikhil Patel adding 22 as Ramesh Patel took 5/39.

Farnworth Social Circle sit third some 23 points off the top but with a game in hand after a comfortable win at Little Lever. In a game reduced to 20 overs they managed to make a challenging 137-5 thanks mainly to Charlie Gibson 32, Archie Walsh 30 and Chris Lane 20. In reply just 3 batters reached double figures as they slumped to 79 all out in reply. Brad Barrow’s 5/28 did much of the damage with Chris Walsh backing him up with 3/42.

Lostock have moved quietly into fifth place after an impressive run of results which they continued with a 17 run at 4th placed Atherton. Put in to bat they were indebted to a patient unbeaten 64 from Jimmy McLoughlin who carried his bat and 34 from Aaron Berriman as they eventually reached 150-5. In reply all the Atherton top 6 reached double figures but none made a telling knock as Matt Nolan top scored on 21. Reece Gray with 4/34 and Jake Raby 3/31 helped bowl them out for 133 in reply.

Eagley’s batters slumped against the bowling of George Leather 3/27 and Ed Lynch 3/16 as they collapsed to a meagre 66 all out at home to Tonge. An unbroken stand of 67 between Craig Naylor and Lynch then saw Tonge get home in under 16 overs and complete a 10 wicket win.

In the sense that more games managed to get started on Saturday the North Conference fared a little better but again none were actually completed. The main highlights saw Ulfat Ali hit 34 as Barrowford reached 47-3 v Chatburn; Matt Gillett and Sajan Muthanna took 3 wickets each as Barnoldswick made 138-9; 38 from Rhys Meehan helped Padiham to 114-4 with Jabbran Sajjad taking 3/24 for Foulridge; Read were 73-4 v Burnley Belevedere, and finally Feniscowles had been rolled out for 62 by Oswaldtwistle Immanuel who were 0/1 in reply.

Barrowford kept their place at the top by virtue of a 9 run win over Cherry Tree who sit 3rd 26 points behind but with 2 games in hand. Barrowford batted first and managed to make 158-9 in 43 overs despite the efforts of Charlie Errey who took 5/20 with Jehangir Babar leading the way on 37 and Jonny Ormerod adding 27. Cherry Tree were set a revised target of 91 but despite a run a ball 42* from Errey they finished just short on 82-5.

Despite their game on Sunday falling foul of the weather, Salesbury remain in second place in the table some 8 points adrift of Barrowford but with a game in hand. Their game at Burnley Belvedere had seen them handily placed on 95-3 off 26 overs when rain halted proceedings, Ben Riley having made 35 and Toby Furbush 20.

Ribblesdale Wanderers complete the top 4 despite also being frustrated by the weather and lie 28 points behind but perhaps crucially with 3 games in hand on the leaders. They must have been doubly frustrated on Sunday as the rain swept in after they had reduced Oswaldtwistle Immanuel to 41-9 thanks to Grame Kershaw who took 6/16.

Arguably the best game of the day took place at Back Lane where the home side Baxenden eventually finished 41 short of Padiham’s total of 215-5. Ewan Pinder with 50 and Zac Brown 42 led the chase with useful support from Nacha Dowling 29 and Haider Ali 25 but Joe Edgar and Jimmy Gray with 3 wickets each helped restrict them to 174-8. Gray had earlier made 53 as Padiham’s top 6 all passed 20 with Rhys Meehan adding 41, Liam Simm 32* and Edgar 28 in a total of 215-5.

Over at Barnoldswick, the home side found themselves victims of DLS when their reply to Burnley Belvedere 2nds total of 164-7 was halted by the rain at 63-5. Faqir Mohammed had scuppered their chase with 3/40 despite Chris Lemon hitting 27. The Burnley innings had been totally dominated by an excellent 106 from Husnain Ateeq with the next highest score being 14! Waqas Ahmed taking 3/38 for the home side.

Earby completed a comprehensive dismantling of Foulridge 2nds as they stormed to a 154 run success. Despite Jacob Springthorpe returning a splendid 7/45 Earby managed to reach a total of 182 thanks mainly to the efforts of Joe Swarbrick 77 and Michael Webb 21. Foulridge then collapsed to just 28 all out in reply with a top score of as Declan Harrison took 4/9 and Martyn Windle 4/11.

Whalley were another side to struggle with bat and after being rolled out for just 57 saw visitors Brinscall pick up a 9 wicket win. Just two batters reached double figures with a top score of 16 from Harry Bradford as they had virtually no answer to a spell of 5/1 from Sajan Muthanna backed up by Danushka Lakshan with 3/18. Peter Berry then set up the easy win with his 34.

Unfortunately the day’s other game between Foulridge and Read was abandoned without a ball being bowled.