Murray’s half-ton helps Kearsley beat Atherton in T20

Conference side Barrowford caused the shock of the evening in last Friday’s In the Anthony Axford North West Cricket League Birtwistle T20 Cup by beating Championship side Barnoldswick by 26 runs.

Barrowford batted first and made 116-7, several batsman making double figures with Aziz Iqbal top scoring with 23.

Barnoldswick were reduced to 46-8, with only an unbeaten ninth-wicket partnership of 42 between W Ahmed (26 not out) and Nomi Akhtar(10no) at least giving the innings a degree of respectability.

Barrowford, having only lost by nine runs to Padiham the previous week, may well have an eye on a surprise quarter-final berth with three group matches to play.

Padiham batted first in their clash with Read, with opener Callum Clarke making a run-a-ball 34. Zander van Tonder made 23 and pick of the bowling was Zadian Muller, who took 3-21 in a total of 107-7.

Read were reduced to 58-4, but an unbeaten fifth-wicket partnership of 52 between Joe Halstead (26no) and Ziyad Bhada (27no) saw Read home to a six-wicket win with more than six overs to spare.

Earby won the toss and elected to bat against Ribblesdale Wanderers, but were soon in trouble and bowled out off the penultimate delivery of the last over for only 76. Luke Hipgrave, with 32, made the only significant contribution, the damage being done by Jordan Britcliffe, who took 4-17 off his four overs.

Ribblesdale wasted no time in knocking off the runs, led by opener Kevon Breckles, who made 25no off 13 deliveries, as Ribblesdale passed the target with 13 overs to spare.

Baxenden looked like they were going to set a big total as they ended the six-over power play on 61-1 against Whalley.

Opener Blair Walsh made 52 off 32 deliveries, including six fours and three sixes. However, once he was out only Ben Gorton, with 27, built on the start and they went from 94-2 to 138 all out in the 20th Over. B Sillifant taking 2-25.

In reply, Whalley lost Stuart Crabtree for just a single. Frankie Jackson (40 off 30 deliveries) and Levi Wolfenden (55 off 31, including 10 fours and a six) put on 107 for the second wicket. Despite losing a couple of late wickets, they ran out comfortable winners by six wickets with three overs to spare.

In the local derby, Feniscowles won the toss and elected to bat against Cherry Tree. They posted a disappointing total of 87-7, Mohammed Jameel top scoring with 23.

In reply, opener Gerhard Swanepoel (25) and Mike Copeland (33no) saw Cherry Tree home with seven wickets in hand and three overs to spare.

Tonge made 116 against Astley Bridge, with Dane Hargreaves top scoring with 55, Alex Kok 3-13 and Ishmael Patel 3-26 the pick of the bowling attack for Astley Bridge. From 40-2, Bridge then slumped to 71 all out with Connor Lord taking 3-23.

Blackrod’s Matthew Ready took 4-10 to help dismiss Eagley for 74. Navod Paranavithana’s 47 then steered Blackrod to victory.

Sam Maclaghlan and Madura Madushaka both recorded half-centuries in Brinscall’s 156-3, then Divan Von Tonder with 3-25 helped reduce Lostock from 56-0 to 127-7, Sam Barlow making 66 of these.

Cameron Murray’s 65 provided the backbone of Kearsley’s 125-8, then Safyan Ahmed took 4-19 to restrict Atherton to 90-7.

Jameel Stuart was Farnworth Social Circle’s leading run maker with 45 out of his side’s 147 all out against neighbours Farnworth, Tayler Hayes taking 4-32 for them. Azan Riaz took 4-17 for Circle, but Farnworth ended the evening on 147-9, winning by virtue of losing less wickets.

Sam Fanning hit 64 in Little Lever’s 177-7, then Walkden recovered from 10-4 to reach 131 with Muzammil Nizam contributing 44 of these. Mukhtar Nasir had the best figures of the day with 5-16 for Lever.

Friday’s fixtures: Padiham v Barnoldswick, Earby v Barrowford, Read v Ribblesdale Wanderers, Oswaldtwistle Immanuel v Baxenden, Whalley v Cherry Tree, Astley Bridge v Brinscall, Blackrod v Lostock, Tonge v Eagley, Farnworth v Walkden, Farnworth SC v Atherton.