Championship leaders Earby took a significant stride towards promotion during a bumper weekend of Anthony Axford North West Cricket League action.

There was a full programme of matches in the second tier on Saturday and Sunday, while the former was the only day of Premiership action.

Earby won both of their matches, while the bulk of the chasing pack had mixed weekends at best. Second-placed Eagley won one and lost won, Atherton in third the same and fourth-placed Baxenden only played once and lost. It means Earby now sit on 143 points from 15 games and are 35 clear of third place. Eagley and Atherton do have games in hand.

Premiership leaders Farnworth Social Circle and fellow title chasers Little Lever maintained the status quo in the Premiership with Saturday victories.

Earby’s first win came by only seven runs away at Oswaldtwistle Immanuel on Saturday as they defended a 182-target.

Luke Hipgrave’s 60 was the feature of 181-8 before American professional Utkarsh Srivastava took a superb 6-49 from 15 overs of spin as Oswaldtwistle were bowled out for 174 in reply.

Their second win then came away at Cherry Tree by five wickets chasing 131.

Joseph Robinson’s four wickets helped bowl Cherry Tree out for 130 before Hipgrave stood out again with the bat, his 49 underpinning a chase which had fallen to 33-3.

On Saturday, Eagley claimed the most impressive win of the weekend away at Ribblesdale Wanderers, by seven wickets chasing 236.

Victory was achieved as Adeel Baig claimed four wickets and Pakistani pro Danish Aziz three as the hosts posted 235-8.

Aziz opened the bowling and batting, and underpinned a confident chase – achieved in the 43rd of 45 overs – thanks to a brilliant 136 off 134 balls, including 26 fours.

But, in quirk of the fixture list, they were then beaten by the same opponents at the same venue by only nine runs 24 hours later.

Ribblesdale’s sixth win saw Sri Lankan pro Heshan Dhanushka contribute a brilliant 110 off 135 balls to 163 all out before Eagley fell from 87-2 to 154 all out. Abrar Hussain claimed four wickets.

Into the top flight, and Farnworth Social Circle claimed a statement 38-run win away at Read.

Their 12th win from 14 games has taken them to 151 points, four clear of Little Lever, who have also won 12 from 14.

Bajan pro Jameel Stuart’s brutal 96 off 39 balls with 12 fours and six sixes was one of three half-centuries in 267 all out. Opener Max Perry contributed 75 and Basil Sultan 56.

Chris Barrow then struck four times with spin in Read’s 229 all out, including an excellent 110 from 78 balls for Sri Lankan pro Sehan Weerasinghe.

Little Lever raced to a nine-wicket victory away at bottom side Lostock, who they bowled out for 50 and chased in only 5.4 overs. In fact, their South African overseas amateur Jade Smith matched Lostock’s total on his own, finishing with 50 not out off 22 balls with five sixes.

Victory was set up by a ruthless bowling display led by Curtis Anderton’s fabulous 6-18 from 10 overs of spin.

Only one Lostock batter reached double figures before Smith’s blitz dominated a 53-1 reply.

Fifth-placed Salesbury are now hot on the heels of Read in fourth having won for an eighth time in 13, by 136 runs at home to Farnworth.

Opener Tom Wilson’s measured 54 was the feature of Salesbury’s imposing 283-9 before South African pro Juan James claimed four wickets as Farnworth were bowled out for 147.

James enjoyed an excellent day having earlier contributed 49 with the bat.

At the bottom, the NWCL have just confirmed that three teams instead of two will be relegated as they engineer a top division of 11 teams and second tier of 10 for 2027.

Lostock are bottom, cut adrift on only 14 points. Barnoldswick are next on 39 points from 13 games, with Blackrod (66 from 14) and Astley Bridge (68 from 14) just above them.

Tonge’s fifth win in 14 was a convincing one, at home to relegation-threatened Barnoldswick. They are not out of the woods themselves but do have a 12-point cushion to third-bottom Blackrod.

Tonge were winners by 80 runs on the back of their 212-6 total which was led by Sri Lankan professional Hashan Dumindu’s well-paced 97 off 109 balls.

In reply, Barnoldswick were bowled out for 132 as George Leather returned 5-21.

Blackrod claimed a nail-biting two-wicket win chasing 167 away at another side in the relegation battle, Astley Bridge.

Their fourth win was achieved on the back of Thushendra De Zoysa’s four-wicket haul to limit Bridge to 166-8 and then a number of useful contributions with the bat, including De Zoysa’s 23.

Opener Mark Glover top-scored with 38, while Sri Lankan pro Kavindu Kulasekara’s 35 not out led a recovery from 95-4.

Mid-table Kearsley won a low-scoring thriller by seven runs away at Padiham defending a 146-target.

Their seventh win in 14 games was achieved as Dhanraj Patel top-scored with a brisk middle-order 39 off 23 balls in 146 all out.

Padiham captain Toby Burrows claimed six wickets with his spin but was later last man out as his side were bowled out for 138. New-ball pair Irfan Kareem (5-62) and Mustafa Bashir shared nine wickets for Kearsley.

Defeats for Padiham and Read in third and fourth means there’s a 28-point gap to Little Lever in second with eight games to go. The title race is realistically now one of two horses.

And back to the Championship.

Walkden aren’t out of the promotion picture following back-to-back weekend wins. They have now won seven of 15 games and have 104 points, 20 behind Eagley in second. Walkden have played once more, however, and have seven games remaining.

Their Saturday success saw them beat Cherry Tree by five wickets chasing 100 to leapfrog them in the table and to the fringes of the promotion race.

Captain Ammad Afzal took the new ball and struck four times in Cherry Tree’s 99 all out before Walkden slipped to 73-5 in reply, getting over the line with the help of Wahab Azeem’s unbeaten 25.

On Sunday, they struck down hosts Atherton by four wickets chasing 209.

Sri Lanka pro Kavindu Amantha returned a fabulous all-round performance. He claimed 6-44 from 12 overs of spin to bowl Atherton out for 208 before contributing a well-paced 82 to a chase which had to be recovered from 22-2.

On Saturday, Atherton had beaten Brinscall by eight wickets chasing 121.

Zeeshan Aslam and Sawan Kankanange took three wickets apiece to bowl Brinscall out for 120.

Impressive Aslam only conceded 16 runs in 11 overs before openers Oliver Gredecki (48) and captain Jack Welch with 50 off 36 balls underpinned a routine chase.

On Sunday. Oswaldtwistle jumped off the bottom of the Championship, bouncing back from Saturday’s home defeat to Earby.

At home again, they dented Baxenden’s promotion bid, winning by 93 runs for win number four in 15 games.

Stand-in captain and pro Imran Abid’s middle-order 46 was the standout innings in 179 all out before Australian OA Tyler Evans claimed a fabulous 7-38 from 8.3 overs as Baxenden were bowled out for just 86.

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Saturday July 25 – Premiership: Blackrod v Barnoldswick, Farnworth v Astley Bridge, Farnworth Social Circle v Salesbury, Kearsley v Read, Little Lever v Padiham, Lostock v Tonge. Championship: Brinscall v Baxenden, Cherry Tree v Atherton, Eagley v Walkden, Earby v Ribblesdale Wanderers.

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Captain Connor Lord says Tonge’s immediate aim is to secure their Premiership future having emerged from a sticky run in the Anthony Axford North West Cricket League.

Pre-season, seamer Lord said that Tonge’s aim was a top four or five finish. But a six-game losing streak from late May to late June proved costly.

Thankfully for those down at Castle Hill, they have won two of their last three league games. The latest came at home to second-bottom Barnoldswick on Saturday, triumphant by 80 runs on the back of a 212-6 total.

Still, though, Lord is taking a pragmatic view when it comes to their target for the remainder of 2026.

“The aim’s definitely changed,” said Lord, who contributed three wickets to help bowl Barnoldswick out for 132.

“With the league having just confirmed that three are going down instead of two, we’re looking over our shoulders rather than looking upwards.

“If we had lost on Saturday, we were getting dragged into the bottom three or four given Astley Bridge and Blackrod – two teams below us – were playing each other.

“So, yeah, the aim’s definitely to stay up.

“If we can get a run together, we can definitely still finish mid-table. But you look at the top five – Farnworth Social Circle, Little Lever, Padiham, Read and Salesbury – and it looks pretty well set. There’s a bit of a gap to the rest.”

Tonge won for the fifth time in 14 games on Saturday.

Their aforementioned 212-6 from 45 overs was underpinned by Sri Lankan professional Hashan Dumindu’s well-paced 97 off 109 balls. Opener Sam Hardman made 45 and South African overseas amateur Craig Jeffrey 50.

In reply, Barnoldswick were bowled out for 132 as George Leather returned 5-21 from only five overs of left-arm spin, while Lord took the new ball and struck three times added to two wickets for Dumindu.

Tonge have 78 points having gained 12 for this victory, and they’re 12 clear of third-bottom Blackrod.

“We’ve been struggling with the bat for the last few weeks, but we did well to put a good score on the board,” reflected Lord. “To get over 200 at our place is a pretty good. We then bowled well and took wickets at regular intervals.

“So, all in all, it was a very good win.

“Craig got his first league fifty after a bit of a tough season, a few bad decisions and a few unlucky moments. With Hashan, you have your pro in your teams to get wickets, runs and win you games, and that’s what he’s done.

“We’ve got a couple of games coming up against teams around us now, and we need to get a few more wins on the board if we can.

“We obviously lost six on the bounce. And, to be honest, I don’t think we were doing a massive amount wrong. A couple of things went against us, and we didn’t really help ourselves. We probably weren’t giving ourselves enough time at the crease, taking the easy option a bit and trying to hit out.

“But we have turned it around a bit recently.

“We’re a good set of lads who have all stuck together.”

While Dumindu impressed with bat and ball on Saturday, spinner Leather returned the pick of the bowling figures with his five-wicket return.

“There have been a few games when George hasn’t bowled and has wanted to,” said Lord. “But when he has, he’s bowled really well.

“We’ve got that extra spin option this year with Craig coming in, so we have left-arm spin, off and leg-spin.

“The way I go about it is trying to look at match-ups. It might be that they’ve bowled well the previous week but then don’t get a bowl the next because of that. I trust all the bowlers. But, as I say, it can just be a match-up thing.”

On Saturday, Tonge’s success was achieved with youngsters Syed Ahmed and Harry Fox in their side, which was particularly pleasing for Lord given he is involved in junior coaching down at the club.

“One’s 15 and the other 16, and we’re giving these lads a chance and our backing,” added Lord. “It shows all the hard work we’ve done with the juniors in the last seven or eight years.

“They’re not just getting a chance because they’re doing well in training, they’re doing well in the second team and in junior cricket.

“It makes us all very proud, and they took three catches between them. They were vital catches too.”