DARWEN 163-6 PRESTON 41 PRESTON were soundly beaten by Darwen at Birch Hall by 122 runs.

Darwen captain Gareth Cordingley won the toss and elected to bat. What a difference there might have been had Iqbal Lilley not dropped Darwen professional Peter Sleep before he opened his account.

Sleep went on to dominated the Darwen innings.

He carried his bat for 122 and hit 11 fours off 177 balls in 162 minutes.

Initially Darwen were struggling against the combined Preston bowling attack of pace and spin in the form of Iqbal Lilley and Manoj Parekh.

Darwen lost their first wicket at eleven and their second 10 runs later when Chris Lowe was caught by Dale James off Parekh without scoring. Sleep and Beesley took the score onto 94 before Beesley was bowled by Richardson for 14.

Manoh Parekh was the pick of the bowling attack with 2 for 44 from 18 overs.

Preston started badly in reply - Antony Mann was caught and bowled by Jeff Hacking for one, with only 4 runs on the board.

Four runs later Greg Bamber was out shortly before the third wicket fell at 16.

Paul Paynter was caught by Nigel Robbins off first change bowler, star man Sleep, for four runs.

Half the Preston side were dismissed for a dismal 26 when Paul Greenwood gave Robbins his second catch off Sleep for 3 runs.

Sleep picked up two more wickets before the last three Preston wickets only gained seven runs before they were dismissed for 41 in the 39th over.

Peter Sleep became the man of the match, scoring 122 not out and taking 6 for 11 in 13 overs!

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