Stuart century sees Social Circle close gap at the top
Star displays from Bajan professional Jameel Stuart with the bat and Lewis Whittle with the new ball - 136 off 106 balls and 6-42 respectively - helped second-placed Social Circle brush aside defending champions Blackrod for a 10th win in 13 games.
Stuart scored his third league century of 2025 and became the first man in either division to pass 900 runs this summer, underpinning 247-9 from 44 overs.
In reply, Whittle was the chief protagonist in bowling hosts Blackrod out for 162, an 85-run win.
Read, meanwhile, lost only their second league game - this at home to mid-table Salesbury, whose sixth win was set up by a more eye-catching century than Stuart's.
Salesbury's South African pro Garnett Tarr, batting at number three, crashed 12 sixes in 164 off 104 balls as they posted 263-8 in only 35 overs.
Read, who lost their Hamer Cup semi-final to Padiham last Sunday, were set a revised 198-target in 24 overs but slipped to 50-6 and 123 all out.
Tarr's outstanding day continued thanks to 5-44 with off-spin.
Mid-table Salesbury's sixth win - this by 74 runs - means leaders Read (126 points) and Farnworth SC are separated by only 11 points with nine games left. They play each other a week on Saturday.
The majority of rainy Saturday matches were subject to reduced overs.
But there was only one game which failed to finish - the battle between two teams at the wrong end of the Championship, Earby at home to Brinscall (7-0 after two overs). Both teams took five points apiece.
The Premiership clash between Lostock and Tonge was the only game not reduced.
Lostock won by seven wickets chasing 152, their fifth win in 13.
However, they remain in ninth place. Mid-table visitors Tonge were bowled out for 151 as new-ball seamer Reece Gray picked up three wickets.
Opener Matt Lamb top-scored with a patient 46 in reply.
Like the Premiership title race, the Championship promotion battle is fascinating. The top five teams are separated by only 28 points.
Ribblesdale Wanderers (119, 15 games) are top but were beaten at second-placed Whalley (115, 13) by three wickets.
After limiting Ribblesdale to 117-5 from 26 overs, Whalley chased a revised 128. Despite losing regular wickets, they were always in control. Whalley pro Levi Wolfenden impressed with two wickets and a sharp 50 in win number nine.
Mid-table Baxenden put a spanner in the works of third-placed Cherry Tree's (101 points, 12 games) progression, claiming a 33-run win on the road in defence of a 145-target in 29 overs.
Baxenden's seventh win in 14 games came despite being bowled out for 144, including Matthew Austin's tail-end 33.
Pro Ben Gorton then struck five wickets as Cherry Tree slipped from 59-1 to 111 all out, losing for the fourth time.
Barnoldswick (99, 12) kept themselves in the Championship promotion conversation with a landslide eighth win, this one by 148 runs at Oswaldtwistle Immanuel.
Openers Abdul and Amir Saddique contributed 75 and 62 respectively - the brothers shared a 104-partnership - to a 210-4 total from 31 overs before the former also claimed five wickets in mid-table Oswaldtwistle's 62 all out.
Overseas amateur Deron Greaves, from St Vincent and the Grenadines, also had a good day for Barnoldswick with 50 and four wickets.
Fifth-placed Astley Bridge (91 points, 13 games) were winners by 73 runs at Walkden in a 42-over game which saw the visitors post a commanding 249-5 thanks largely to Rick Northrop's fine 97 off 94 balls.
In reply, captain Syd De Silva claimed four wickets with spin as Walkden were bowled out for 176. Bridge won for the seventh time this summer.
Back in the Premiership, third-placed Padiham's seventh win came by 23 runs at home to Atherton, who dropped into the bottom two as a result.
Padiham's 195-5 in 29 overs was led by Callum Clarke's well paced 59 before Atherton, chasing a revised 208 in 26, finished on 184-5. They had been usefully placed at 93-1 in the 14th over, but home captain Toby Burrows spun his way to four wickets.
Padiham have 93 points, 22 adrift of second-placed Farnworth Social Circle and 33 behind leaders Read.
Farnworth (60 points) leapfrogged Atherton (59 points) out of the bottom two to 10th place. They dented Kearsley's bid for a top-four finish with a 35-run home success, their third win of the summer.
Farnworth posted 150-9 from 37 overs, captain and opener Tayler-Jay Heyes top-scoring with a patient 62. In defence, sub pro Anuk Fernando (Rawtenstall) and new-ball partner Yasir Rashid equally shared eight wickets in Kearsley's 115 all out.
Farnworth also jumped above Eagley, who fell to bottom of the table despite a thrilling win at mid-table Little Lever, by two runs defending a revised target of 147 in 27 overs.
Harvey Seigne's brisk middle-order 52 underpinned Eagley's 146-5 before Little Lever moved to the verge of victory, needing nine to win off the last two overs at 138-5 with Pakistani pro Muhammad Junaid unbeaten on 86.
But Junaid fell for 87 to James Richards in the penultimate, and Seigne then defended six off the last over as the hosts finished on 144-7. Eagley won for the fourth time in 13 and have 58 points.
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