Premiership duo Farnworth and Salesbury alongside Ribblesdale Wanderers from the Championship were the winners from the only three completed Saturday games across both first-team divisions of the Anthony Axford North West Cricket League.
Farnworth’s second win in five games came at home to Barnoldswick, while Salesbury’s second win in four was achieved away at Kearsley on the back of a remarkable all-round display from new South African professional Juan James, who smashed an unbeaten 142 off 85 balls and took four wickets.
Ribblesdale Wanderers won by eight wickets chasing 135 away at Oswaldtwistle Immanuel for win number two in six.
All three teams sit mid-table in their respective leagues, and it means that three other teams – Little Lever from the Premiership and Earby and Baxenden from the Championship – have lost their 100 percent winning starts to 2026. But, through no fault of their own.
With the three aforementioned games being completed, it means that all those abandoned games stand as results. All teams took five points apiece.
Every single game across both divisions started on Saturday but didn’t finish.
Little Lever were rained off at home to Read, while Earby and Baxenden were abandoned at home to Walkden and away to Cherry Tree respectively.
Farnworth’s victory came by 55 runs against a newly-promoted Barnoldswick side who have now played four, lost four.
Opener Dharmik Patel top-scored with 48 in Farnworth’s 135-2 from 24 overs before Barnoldswick, chasing a revised 181 in 24, finished on 125-8. Pakistani professional Abdul Bangalzai claimed a superb 6-56 from 12 overs of left-arm spin.
Salesbury’s win at Kearsley came by 90 runs.
They racked up an impressive 233-6 from 33 overs thanks in no small part to the aforementioned James, who crashed 15 fours and nine sixes from number three in the order.
He helped them recover from 3-1 in the first over before taking 4-25 from 11 overs of off-spin in Kearsley’s 138 all out after they had been set a revised target of 229 in 33.
Ribblesdale’s second-tier win away at Oswaldtwistle came in a fixture reduced to 39 overs per side. The hosts totalled 133-7, with the wickets shared around.
A straightforward reply was built around opener Bilal Ahmed’s brisk 61, victory achieved with more than 12 overs remaining.
Premiership leaders Little Lever were 93-4 from 21 overs at home to Read.
Nizam Vaid and Sehan Weerasinghe equally shared the four wickets, while South African overseas amateur Jade Smith opened with an unbeaten 56 for Little Lever.
While unbeaten Little Lever have now won four of five, Read have won three and lost one of their other four matches added to this abandonment.
Champions and hosts Farnworth Social Circle and Astley Bridge were limited to just 15 overs of play.
After two early Lewis Whittle wickets, captain Syd De Silva (26) and Sri Lankan pro Dhanushka Dhamasiri (39) shared an unbroken 66.
Second-placed Social Circle have won three and lost one added to this abandonment, while this supplemented two wins and two losses for Bridge in seventh.
In the Championship, Eagley still lead the way with four wins from six, added to a loss and the soggy Saturday stalemate.
Eagley and Atherton played out 19 overs.
Atherton were 61-2 thanks in the main to captain Jack Welch’s unbeaten 35. Danish Aziz and Adeel Baig struck for Eagley, who have played six, won four and lost one added to this.
Atherton have played five, won two and lost two in addition to this result.
Earby were 2-1 in the second over chasing a revised target of 142 in 21 overs at home to Walkden, who had recorded a competitive 198-6 from their 45 overs.
Opener Syed Shah top-scored with a well-paced 70 for Walkden, while Max Nutter struck three times for Earby, who have now played five and won four added to this.
While the five points apiece ended a 100 percent, four-game winning start for Earby, it also ended a four-game losing streak for Walkden.
Baxenden were away at Cherry Tree, who had reached 145-3 from 30 overs. Local pro Mini Bhada had contributed 40, while South African OA Barend Lourens had claimed two of the three wickets to fall.
Cherry Tree have played six, won three and lost two in addition to this.
Back in the Premiership, captain Toby Burrows struck three times in five balls as Padiham made a fast start at Lostock, reducing their hosts to 18-4 in 13 overs.
Left-arm spinner Burrows trapped George Jackson and Ben McGrath lbw and had Abdul Rehman caught in the last over before the rain.
Padiham have played six, won three and lost one added to two abandonments, while Lostock have lost their other four matches.
And only eight overs were possible between Blackrod and Tonge, the latter who were 38-0, including Sam Hardman’s 25.
Blackrod have played six, won two and lost three added to this abandonment, while Tonge have also won three and lost one from their five.
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Saturday May 23, Premiership – Astley Bridge v Kearsley, Barnoldswick v Farnworth Social Circle, Blackrod v Farnworth, Read v Lostock, Salesbury v Little Lever, Tonge v Padiham. Championship – Atherton v Earby, Baxenden v Eagley, Brinscall v Cherry Tree, Walkden v Oswaldtwistle Immanuel.
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New-look Baxenden are exactly where they planned to be in the Anthony Axford North West Cricket League Championship table, says club chair Ed Aspinall.
Baxenden had won four from four heading into Saturday’s Championship clash with promotion rivals Cherry Tree, which ended up being abandoned due to rain after only 30 overs.
At the time, hosts Cherry Tree were 145-3 and going nicely. But Baxenden were confident of responding in kind with the bat.
“Our chase was going to be about 150 off 22 overs at one point,” said Aspinall. “And we would have backed ourselves in T20 mode to have chased that. But it came to a stage where we ran out of overs.”
With Ribblesdale Wanderers winning at Oswaldtwistle Immanuel, it meant Baxenden and Earby – they had also won four from four – lost their 100 percent winning starts to 2026.
But, for Aspinall and the Bash players, confidence is very high as they sit third just behind Earby and leaders Eagley, who have played six and won four.
While Baxenden have retained local professional Ben Gorton, they have a new captain in Aneeq Hassan, who has replaced Ben Ross, who remains with the club.
They also have a new South African overseas amateur in Barend Lourens, who struck twice with the ball on Saturday.
And they aren’t the only new signings.
“We’ve signed Charlie Elwood and Joseph Ince from Cherry Tree,” continued Aspinall. “We’ve also signed Cameron Holder from Rawtenstall. He was their captain last year.
“We’ve obviously got Barend and Aneeq back. He was our pro about four or five years ago, and he’s been driving around the North West pro-ing since then.
“But he messaged me saying that he’d started a new business, he enjoyed his time with us and he’d like to come back as an amateur.
“We’ve also got a new senior coach in Chris Riley, and he’s probably been our best signing, really.
“In years gone by, we’ve really struggled with batting depth. We’ve always had a good top four or five, but we struggled last year. We’d lose a couple of wickets, and we could be all out in double figures.
“Last Saturday, I think we had a sixth-wicket stand of nearly 90 against Brinscall and got to 224, which was a good score.
“We’ve also got six or seven good bowlers this year as well, which is massive.
“Saturday at Cherry Tree was actually the first time we’d won the toss and bowled. In the other four games, we’d won the toss and batted. But we’re backing ourselves with bat and ball.
“Strength-wise, we’re ready to be up there. We’d be disappointed if we’re not challenging this year.
“Look, starting as well as we have has been a bit of a surprise with the number of new players we’ve got. We didn’t know whether or not it would take a few weeks for them all to gel.
“But we definitely expected to be challenging.”
With the increased strength has brought increased depth, meaning the second team have also started encouragingly in the Conference 2, winning two of their four games so far. The other two have been abandoned.
“The seconds actually stayed up last year on a technicality,” added Aspinall. “And we’ve started well in that too and want to be challenging because three or four players have dropped down from the firsts.
“The youth development as well. Five years ago, we had no juniors at all because of Covid and one thing or another. But now we’ve got Under 7s, Under 9s and Under 11s.
“As a club, we’re definitely moving in the right direction.”
