By Mike Cregan

The final weekend of games in the Anthony Axford Northwest Cricket League Conference season saw a thrilling climax in the North section which saw Cherry Tree emerge as champions on the final evening.

Going into the weekend Cherry Tree knew the title was in their hands as long as they could secure more points than Ribblesdale Wanderers over the double header. They didn’t get off to the best of starts on Saturday as Burnley Belvedere 1sts narrowly defeated them by 7 runs but, the 7 points that they picked up proved crucial in the final reckoning. Burnley batted first and were restricted to a total of 123 despite Abid Khan making 45 as Joe Ince and Alex Fenwick each took 3 wickets. Ince then top scored with 33 and Kevin Reed added 23 in the reply but Umer Saadat 4/31 and Seroze Hussain 3/16 restricted them to 116. On Sunday, however, they made no mistake as they thrashed Salesbury by 106 runs to secure the title by just 6 points. Reed led the way with 60, Ince added 33 and Haris Saleemi 28 as they made 187-9, Dan Rawson taking 3/46. Ince and Dan Lord then took 4 wickets each as Salesbury managed just 81 in reply.

Ribblesdale had gone into the weekend needing to win both games and hope Cherry Tree slipped but despite doing what they needed to do, Tree’s 7 point haul on Saturday just edged them out. Saturday saw them beat Whalley by 75 runs after recovering from a perilous position of 40-7 thanks to 28 each from Graeme Kershaw, Charlie Windsor and Jack Fielding after Ehtesham Ali had taken 5/34. Kershaw then took 6/23 and Travis Blezard 3/7 as Gary Barker fought a lone hand with 52 of a total of just 77! They then travelled to Earby and again did what they had to do with a 6 wicket win chasing 147 thanks to the efforts of Stephen Tandy 59 and Josh Dean 30. Jason Lockley took 3/15 to add to his earlier 26 as Earby made 146-9, Luke Chapman making 54 and Michael Webb 36 as Waqas Khan and George Kerr each took 3 wickets.

Long time leaders Barrowford had to settle for third place after winning their final game by 5 wickets against Chatburn in a low scoring affair. Jehangir Babar with 5/34 and Imran Karim 3/8 helped bowl out the visitors for just 74 with Ashley Bennett making 27. They then raced home in 15 overs despite Richard Shovelton taking 3/23, Ulfat Ali making 26 26 and Jonny Ormerod 24. It was Chatburn’s second loss of the weekend as they had gone down by 4 wickets at Feniscowles the previous day too. Bennett again was the only batter to make much impact with a score of 21 in a total of 98 all out as Kharum Mahmood took 6/24 and Mahmood Chaudry 3/29. Jack Ashton then took 4/34 to give them some hope but Ed Rushworth helped Feniscowles home with 21.

Feniscowles followed that up with a more convincing 94 run win on Sunday over Oswaldtwistle Immanuel. Matthew Nattrass with 27* and Matt Caddick 22 helped them to 141-9 despite Maneeb Alam taking 4/34 and Waseem Hussain 3/35. A brilliant spell of 7/9 off 11 overs from Syed Shah and 3/37 from Chaudry then swept aside Ossy for just 47 in reply. The previous day though had seen an emphatic win for Ossy as they beat Foulridge 2nds by 78 runs after rattling up 224-7. Hussain Ali led the way with 74, Zameer Hussain added 34, Maneeb Alam 24 and Tyler Preece 22 as Sarath Babu took 4/35. Zameer then took 3/16 and Babar Jameel 3/59 as Foulridge managed 146 with Jacob Springthorpe hitting an unbeaten 44 as last man in.

Foulridge then ended their season with a hard fought 2 wicket win over Baxenden as they chased down 141. Babu led the chase with 39, Tim Barnes hitting 32 and Dan Kelly 22 to deny the efforts of Zac Bannon who took 4/32. Babu had earlier taken a superb 7/36 to help bowl Bash out for 140 despite Haider Ali hitting 81 and Adam Macholc 20.

Top score of the weekend came at Brinscall where the home side piled up 261-7 against Barrowford 2nds who put up a battling 204 in reply. Saeed Patel’s undefeated 132 led the way for Brinscall with Phil Jackson adding 32 and Faisal Patel 27. Talha Butt top scored with 43, Arsalaan Ali 35, Hamid Bushy 23, and Ulfat Ali 21 in the run chase but 3 wickets each for Peter Berry and Patel just about held them off. They couldn’t repeat their batting heroics on Sunday though as they toppled to just 98 all out against Barnoldswick who picked up a 5 wicket win. Finley Best provided the only real resistance with 27 as David Rawson took 4/24 and Wasique Ali 3/23. Barlick then slumped to 34-5 before a rapid unbeaten 59 from Waqas Ahmed got them over the line.

Salesbury travelled to Earby and came away with a 50 run win after making a useful 175-8. Joe Rawlinson 56 and Ben Riley 38 made the bulk of those as Noah Bond took 4/39. Dan Rawson and Sam Bristol then took 3 wickets each to help restrict Earby to 125 even though Jason Locley made 31, Lucas Lockley and Luke Chapman 22 apiece.

Padiham had a mixed weekend to complete their season following up a 71 run defeat to Burneey Belvedere 2nds with a 64 run win over Foulridge. On Saturday Burnley rattled up an impressive 246-7 mainly thanks to Husnain Ateeq 85 and Ali Zar 49* before 3 wickets each from Faqir Mohammed, Tanvir Ahmed and Waseem Rakhi held Padiham to 175 in response despite the efforts of Rhys Meehan 46, Liam Simm 33, Toby Muldoon 29 and Cameron Thorne 26*. The following day saw them defeat Foulridge by 64 runs after they had made 150 batting first as Simm added 45 to his previous day’s efforts, Joe Edgar making 24 and Jonny Ball 20 as Shahbaz Munir took 5/36. Jimmy Gray and Harry Starkie then took 4 wickets each as Foulridge made just 86 in response, Mohammed Haroon making 39 of them. Foulridge had however tasted success the previous day with a 69 run win at Stacksteads after making 142 all out despite a superb spell of 8/68 from Luke Davies with both Jabbran Sajjad and Ajmal Chaudhry making 27. Only Andrew Holt with 27 then posed any threat as Stacksteads were tumbled out for just 73, Mohammed Rauf taking 5/31 and Rashid Rasheed 3/7.

Burnley Belvedere 1sts ended their season on a high with an emphatic 8 wicket win at Read as they chased down the home team’s 177 with 13 overs to spare. After Ali Zar had made 27 an unbroken stand of 120 between Ali Akbar 66* and Husnain Sharif 61* took them to an impressive win. Earlier Zar had taken 3/37 and Abdul Haleem 5/34 in the Read innings with Elliot Lowes making 35 and Jon Harvey 20.

In Conference South only one game saw scores of over 100 with Lostock chasing down Blackrod’s 123-8 with 6 wickets and 5 overs to spare. Blackrod battled to their score thanks mainly to Ben Jones 22* and Ste Ashworth with 21 as the home bowlers spread out the wickets. An unbeaten 44 from Kiishan Ram and 30 from Jimmy McLoughlin saw Lostock to the win.

The next highest total came at Atherton where the home team were bowled out for 87 and then Little Lever knocked off the runs in the 21^st over to secure a top 4 finish. Gareth Moxon 42*, Jack Barlow 20* and Tim Taylor 20 made the runs for Lever after Matt Mills and Paul Hewart had each taken 5 wickets in the Atherton innings. Atherton had reached 54 for the first wicket with Dale Tyrer making 23 and Louie Farrimond 19 before losing the rest of their wickets for just 33 runs.

Astley Bridge enjoyed an early finish as they swept aside a hapless Eagley for a meagre 46 which included a top score of just 14 as Ramesh Patel took 4/7. Bridge then raced home in double quick time as they needed just 7 overs to knock off the required runs and secure third place in the table.

Farnworth Social Circle made sure of the runners up spot as they romped to an 8 wicket win over Tonge after bowling them out for just 55. Lewis Whittle starred with the ball taking 5/7 and Chris Walsh added 3/20 as just 2 batters managed to get into double figures. It took them just 14 overs to knock off the runs with Irfan Pandar making 25 not out.

The final game of the day proved to be a tense low scoring affair which saw Walkden’s total of 69 enough to defeat Kearsley by 13 runs. Sehran Khan top scored with 25 as Jack Scott and Andy Gregory bowled unchanged to take 5 wickets apiece for Kearsley. Grant Cordin then made 29 but nobody else passed 7 in reply as Mehran Anwar took 6/27 and Imran Ali 3/9 and Kearsley stumbled to just 56 in reply