DARWEN'S dreams of Lord's came to a halt yesterday when Widnes knocked them out of the ECB Cockpsur Cup.

The regional final, which gives the winners a place in the last 16 nationally, was played in front of the largest crowd at Birch Hall for some time, but most of them left disappointed.

Darwen batted first and with both openers back in the pavilion early, it was left to the in-form Domninic Heys and Gareth Cordingley to get the innings going.

They took the score to 64 with a partnership of 51 before Heys was needlessly run out for 34 in the 18th over.

Chris Clarke (15) then helped Cordingley add 46 before he too fell to a sharp run out. Neil Cordingley then joined his brother and Gareth scored 49 before his was the fifth wicket to fall with the score on 136.

Neil went on to score an undefeated 42 as he ensured the total passed the critical 200 mark with useful contributions coming from Craig Chatterton, Jeff Hacking and Andrew Mercer.

In reply Widnes got off to the best possible start as openers Steve Titchard and young James McCoy hit a match-winning 158 before the ex-Lancashire player Titchard was clean bowled by Mercer for 51.

McCoy went onto make 91 before he fell to Gareth Cordingley. His runs came from just 97 balls and included 12 fours and one six.

There was a flurry of late wickets that gave the home crowd something to cheer about, but Widnes captain Spencer hit the winning runs with three overs to spare.

On Saturday Darwen also lost at home, this time in the league, to Morecambe.

Darwen were skittled out for a paltry 116 with only a defiant 27 from Jeff Hacking ensuring that they passed the 100 mark after they had found themselves on 54-7 from 30 overs.

Morecambe openers Maketa and Hird took the game away from Darwen as they put on 64 for the first wicket.

Gareth Cordingley claimed Hird's wicket for 28 and Maketa eventually fell to Cook for 44. Orchard (21) and Peddar (14) saw Morecambe home with more than 18 overs to spare.

Captain Neil Cordingley was disappointed with both results. He said: "We have had a very good run recently and we did not play to our best in either game.

"I'm proud that this is the furthest we've ever got in the National Knockout but now we have to pick ourselves up for the Twenty20 at home to Leyland Motors on Tuesday."