DARWEN continued their march in the Thwaites LCB Knockout thanks to a thrilling one wicket victory over Denton West at Birch Hall on Sunday.

Darwen asked the visitors to bat and the decision soon reaped rewards as three wickets fell for 49 with Hacking and Nicol doing the damage. When opener B Williams fell for 38 to Howard with the score on 69 from 25 overs, the Denton innings seemed in real trouble. A partnership of 51 between N Williams and Hampson helped Denton to a respectable 159-8 from the allotted 45 overs. Semple was the pick of the Darwen bowlers taking 2-25 closely followed by Jamie Nicol taking 2-26 from his nine overs.

The Darwen innings got off to a poor start losing Lowe and Semple inside the first nine overs for just 37 runs. The Cordingley brothers then steadied the ship adding 39 before Gareth fell for a battling 34 whilst Neil went on to make a steady 46 before becoming the sixth wicket to fall with the score on 128.

The match was now poised to go either way as Bennett and Horsfield looked to score 50 from the last eight overs. They appeared to have turned the match Darwen's way when two crucial errors of judgement saw both batsmen fell to needless run outs. When Bolton joined Howard at the crease the last pair required 16 to win from 16 balls. Bolton hit the winning runs with just two balls to spare to take Darwen into the third round.

It was a very different story at Blackpool on Saturday as Darwen's poor league form continued with a seven wicket defeat.

The Darwen innings never really got going with only Neil and Gareth Cordingley getting into double figures, hitting 15 and 21 respectively, as Darwen were dismissed for a disappointing 82.

Blackpool were never in trouble and were able to get the runs from just 24 overs for the loss of three wickets.

Darwen Seconds picked up a valuable six points on Saturday thanks to a winning draw with Blackpool. In a reduced game, Darwen hit a fine 181 from just 30 overs thanks to some sparkling batting from Jackson who got 75 not out ably supported by Hadfield, Heys and Grant.

DARWEN 167-9

DENTON WEST 165-8

DENTON WEST

G Senior c G Cordingley b Nicol ... 3

B Williams c Bolton b Howard ... 38

S Hague c Bolton b Hacking ... 4

B Perera c G Cordingley b Hacking ... 8

N Williams b Nicol ... 48

S Hampson b Semple ... 19

P Jackson b Semple ... 4

S Rathbone not out ... 13

M Dale b Hacking ... 17

Extras ... 6

Total (8 wkts) ... 165

DARWEN

G Cordingley c B Williams b Hampson ... 34

C Lowe c Senior b Rathbone ... 0

K Semple b Rathbone ... 16

N Cordingley c Jackson b Dale ... 46

J Cordingley b Hampson ... 7

J Hacking b Hampson ... 7

M Bennett run out ... 26

M Horsfield run out ... 6

J Nicol c Ryder b Dale ... 4

M Howard not out ... 8

C Bolton not out ... 6

Extras ... 9

Total (9 wkts) ... 167

Bowling: S Rathbone 8-2-25-2; I Ryder 4-0-21-0; M Dale 9-2-30-2; S Hampson 9-7-8-2; B Perara 9-0-37-1; Z Zaman 5.3-0-38-0

BLACKPOOL 83-3

DARWEN 82

Blackpool 12 pts

Darwen 0 pts

DARWEN

M Horsfield b Sharp ... 1

C Lowe c Hackett b Croft ... 5

K Semple b Walton ... 10

G Cordingley run out ... 21

N Cordingley c Armstrong b Walton ... 15

J Cordingley lbw Croft ... 2

J Hacking c Sharp b Walton ... 9

G Parkinson lbw Barrow ... 2

M Bennett b Barrow ... 2

J Nicol c Danson b Walton ... 1

M Howard not out ... 0

Extras ... 14

Total (all out) ... 82

Bowling: M Sharp 14-11-5-1; S Croft 12-3-25-3; D Walton 12-2-25-4; C Barrow 10-5.3-20-2

BLACKPOOL

G Armstrong c N Cordingley b Semple ... 11

R Lamb lbw Semple ... 4

M Lomas not out ... 26

R Danson lbw Hacking ... 12

S Croft not out ... 22

Extras ... 8

Total (3 wkts) ... 83

Bowling: K Semple 9-2-26-2; J Hacking 11-1-28-1; N Cordingley 3-0-12-0; J Nicol 1-0-10-0; M Howard 0.4-0-2-0