DARWEN needed to draw on all their experience and determination to ensure they overcame Leyland in a closely-fought Slater Cup semi final at Fox Lane on Sunday.

Darwen were put in to bat on a slow wicket by a confident Leyland for this 40 over encounter. However, it was soon Darwen who were looking confident as Semple and Gary Jackson put on an impressive 123 for the second wicket partnership.

Jackson fell to Haydock for 55 with the score on 132 closely followed by Semple to Walsh for 73 with the score on 143 in the 36th over.

Semple had scored his runs from 112 balls including five fours and one six, while Jackson had taken 87 balls to accumulate his score in mainly ones and twos.

The Darwen tail then added a further 24 losing four further wickets in the process as the innings finally finished on 167-7, which was a little disappointing given the very positive start.

Leyland's innings became bogged down early on thanks to extremely effective bowling from Semple and Hacking who restricted them to just 18 runs from the first ten overs. However, the sub professional Anwar-Junior and Rimmer then put Leyland in control as they added 53 from just nine overs before Anwar fell to the promising Jamie Nicol for 39.

Rimmer continued to dominate the attack while continuing to lose partners at the other end. Darwen's fielders worked hard to restrict the runs while taking any chances that came their way.

When Rimmer eventually fell to a brilliant catch by John Cordingley on the boundary, off the bowling of his brother Neil, for a fine 50 Leyland knew the game was up as they stood on 127-7 in the 34th over still needing another 41 runs.

It was only a matter of time before the Leyland tail was put firmly between the legs and back in the clubhouse 19 runs short of the target in the penultimate over.

Hacking took one wicket and Semple a further two finishing the game by sending Hatton's stumps flying. Man of the match Semple finished with three wickets for just 14 runs from his eight overs and captain Jeff Hacking took one wicket for 17 runs from his seven overs.

Darwen now go on to face the winners of the Netherfield/Kendal semi final. Both the first and second team games fell victims to the weather on Saturday.