THE result of the Northern League Vaux Samson second round tie at Vernon Road on Sunday was fashioned in the first six overs of the Darwen innings.

By then the east Lancashire side had slid to 13-3 and although they made a brave effort at recovery, their 147 all out was never going to be enough runs to win.

And so it proved as St Annes capitalised on their excellent bowling performance to cruise to 148-6 and win by four wickets with more than five overs remaining.

Darwen were put in to bat and with only three balls gone Eldine Baptiste had Jackson back in the pavilion, caught by wicketkeeper Duncan Whalley for nought.

At seven, Chris Lowe was caught by Gareth Evans at backward short leg for one off the wily John Cotton and at 13 deputy professional Ashraf, five, put Cotton straight to Russ Bradley at extra cover.

A struggling Robbins became Cotton's third wicket when he was comprehensively bowled for four and Darwen were down and almost out at 22-4 with 10 overs of their innings gone.

Cotton bowled his nine overs straight off and finished his impressive spell with the excellent figures of 3-16, a contributory factor in Darwen only reaching 50-4 at the half-way stage of their innings.

The Cordingley brothers, Gareth and Neil, were then together and they added 56 runs in 17 overs before Neil was bowled by Tennant for 23.

Jeff Hacking joined the elder Cordingley and they were just beginning to look secure when St Annes skipper Brian Tennant made an inspired bowling change.

Baptiste returned and his sixth delivery ripped through Cordingley's defence to bowl the Darwen captain for 40 made from 72 balls with three fours.

Rodden struggled for 20 balls to come to terms with the situation before Tennant put him out of his agony by having him expertly stumped by Whalley for three.

Hacking and the veteran Dave Bonner provided most of the remaining runs for Darwen and they had added 37 before Bonner, 17, was caught by Evans off Baptiste, returning for his third spell.

Adrian Darlington then polished off the innings, first he had Hacking, a spirited 34, caught by Bickerdike at mid-wicket and then Mercer, one, caught by Cotton at deep mid-on to end the innings at 147.

All the St Annes bowlers performed well, Baptiste finishing with 3-15, Darlington with 2-20 and Tennant with 2-37.

The St Annes' reply began with a dash and after two overs they had reached 20 without loss, including a gratuitous four overthrows.

The onslaught continued and when Baptiste, 14, was beaten and bowled by Bonner in the fourth over, the total was 31-1.

The loss of his partner did not deter Darlington and he continued on his aggressive way to 36 before he was adjudged to have edged a ball through to wicketkeeper Braithwaite and St Annes were 76-2 in only the 16th over.

The innings then lost a little of its momentum as the Darwen bowlers tightened up their line and length.

Bobby Denning, 17, had his head in the air attempting to drive when he was bowled by Mercer at 79 and Chris Harrison was well caught by Ashraf at slip off Hacking for 93-4.

But there were plenty of overs remaining and Russ Bradley and Duncan Whalley steadily accrued a further 30 runs before both were dismissed at 123; Bradley, 10, was leg before wicket to Ashraf and Whalley, 11, was caught by Mercer off Rodden.

After a precautionary look at the bowling Sean Bickerdike, 13, not out, and Chris Evans, nine not out, took St Annes safely through, with 35 balls remaining, to a semi-final meeting with Kendal.

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