BLACKBURN Under 15s suffered a disappointment when they went down by eight wickets to Burnley in the Lancashire Schools' Merit Cricket League at Lowerhouse.

The Blackburn youngsters fared quite well with the bat making 164 all out largely due to Clarke and Asif, who both made 37.

But that total proved to be nowhere near enough as Burnley's Lancashire opener William Driver steered his side to an 8 wicket victory with an unbeaten 97.

Burnley Under 15s were not so fortunate in the Lancashire Schools' Ainsworth Trophy going down by 39 runs to Hyndburn in their first Round clash at Great Harwood.

Hyndburn, batting first, made 211 for 3 (Brankin 67, Hussain 46 not out, Clare 39 not out, Thornton 37) and Burnley finished on 172 for 9 (Driver 66, Hussain 51).

Hyndburn will now travel to meet Rossendale in the next round.

Hyndburn Under 13s, who opened their season with a 12 run reverse against Rossendale in a Lancashire Schools' Merit League match, focus on the cup this week travelling to take on Bury in the second Round of the Lancashire Schools' Hacking Cup today.

Meanwhile, Blackburn's Chris Clarke figured prominently on Lancashire Under 15s annual tour to the South West, last week.

Lancashire's opening two matches in Cornwall were rained off and they lost by five wickets to Devon in their next match.

The Red Rose juniors went down by seven wickets to Somerset despite a fine top score of 54 from Clarke in Lancashire's 234-7 and Clarke hit top form in the last match hitting 94 to help Lancashire top a seven wicket win against Wales in a 50 over match.

Lancashire Under 15s takemon Northumberland at Percy Main in their opening match in the county championship, while Lancashire Under 13s begin by taking on Northumberland at Lancaster.

The Under 15s follow that by taking on Lincolnshire at Bolton on Sunday, June 13.