By Mike Cregan

The second round of the Ramsbottom Cup saw wins for Padiham, Burnley Belvedere, Astley Bridge, Farnworth, Blackrod, Atherton, Lostock and Farnworth Social Circle.
Padiham rattled up the highest score of the round posting 280-7 as they defeated Feniscowles by 72 runs to move into the last 8. Kevin Hitchon 42 and Joe Edgar 44 set them on the way adding 66 for the 1st wicket and then Jimmy Gray 89 and Liam Simm with 34 made sure their efforts weren’t wasted. Feniscowles gave it a go but eventually had to settle for 208-7 in reply. Only Mark McGovern 25 of the top order got going and it was left to an unbroken 8th wicket stand of 110 between Syed Shah 51* and Mahmood Chaudry 54* to get them over the 200 mark.
Burnley Belvedere defeated Kearsley by 5 wickets after recovering from 27-3 chasing 138. Abid Khan 31 and Abdul Shakoor with an undefeated 48 were the heroes with the bat for the home side in the end. Kearsley’s 137 saw 7 batters reach double figures led by Grant Cordin’s 24 but crucially nobody was able to really kick on for them as Abdul Haleem picked up 3/15.
Salesbury travelled to Astley Bridge where the home side went through by a margin of 69 runs. Bridge’s innings followed a similar pattern to Kearsley with Ishy Patel’s 26 the highest of six double figure scores as Sam Bristol took 3/35 and Cameron Walmsley 3/16. Salesbury also found it hard work with the bat as just 3 batters made it into double figures with a top score of 17 as Faiz Khandu took 4/8 and and Hashim Akhtar 3/20 in a total of 78.
Lostock made the trip to Barrowford and returned with a 6 wicket win as they chased down the home side’s 141 with around 3 overs to spare. Stephen Kaye with 53 and Harry Jackson with an unbeaten 24 leading the way for the visitors. Jackson had earlier taken 3/33 as he and Ryan Crombie 3/13 helped bowl the home side out for 141 despite the efforts of Hamid Bushy 31 and Imran Karim 35.
Farnworth yet again sailed past the 200 mark with their 231-8 proving to be 143 too many for visitors Read. Chris Baxendale continued his purple patch with 72 as Farnworth batted first ably assisted by Neil Hyde 51 and Aaqib Javed 29 with Andrew Bennett taking 3/33 for the visitors. Read then collapsed to just 88 all out in reply as Simon Harrison took 5/17 with Elliot Lowes making almost half of those on 30.
Blackrod got the better of Tonge at Castle Hill returning home with a 58 run win under their belts. Jack Southworth with 79 and Tom Westhead 76 made the bulk of their total of 236-7 despite the efforts of Daniel Holt who took an impressive 5/36. Holt 36 and Dave Whittle 31 added 90 for the 1st wicket but after that only Jav Bhagat’s 47 threatened the away team as Steve Ashworth took an impressive 6/26.
A competitive game at Higham Park eventually saw Atherton put out Earby by 27 runs. Alex Hall enjoyed an excellent all round game for Earby as he followed up a superb 6/37 with an unbeaten 25 as Earby chased 198 to win. Jason Lockley added 53 and Jack Swarbrick 28 but Earby were restricted to 170-6. Atherton made 197 as Greg Greenough hit 57, Dale Tyrer 30 and Mike Tomlinson 25 to make the bulk of their runs.
The final tie of the round saw Farnworth Social Circle defeat Settle by 47 runs at Piggott Street. Andrew Wareing led the way making an unbeaten 69 as they reached 202-7 with Chris Lane adding a useful 34 in support despite Harvey Green taking 3/37. John Tarbox then made 42 as Read replied with Daniel Strickland adding 36 but 3/33 from Bradley Barrow helped restrict them to 155 in reply.