PRESTON'S batsmen - apart from captain and professional Manoj Parekh - failed miserably against Darwen's substitute professional Corrie Jordaan when they lost Preston 109 to Darwen's 113-6.

Put into bat, both openers were dismissed with only ten on the board.

The third wicket fell at 20 when Asif Bukhari was caught and bowled by Corrie Jordaan.

Ten runs later Paul Paynter was trapped lbw by Jordaan.

Then there was a collapse when Billy Druce and Paul Greenwood departed at the same score, which left Preston struggling at 30 for 6.

Manoh Parekh and Atul Sachdeva added 13 runs for the seventh wicket before the latter was bowled by Jordaan for four runs.

Then Manoj Parekh and Paul Mann put Preston back into the game with a 61 runs partnership for the eighth wicket before Parekh was bowled by Jordaan for an impressive 47.

Unfortunately, the Preston tail collapsed - with the last two wickets only adding 5 runs as the home side was dismissed for 109.

Corrie Jordaan bowled half the 50 overs to take 6 for 39.

Darwen struggled in reply when Graham Jackson was bowled by Iqbal Lilley without opening his account.

Graham Ainslie and Chris Lowe took the score onto 19 before the latter was lbw to Lilley for 9.

Ainslie was next out with the score on 42, caught by Paul Mann off Atul Sachdeva for 17.

Five runs later, 17-year-old leg-spinner Atul Sachdeva struck again, having Nigel Robbins lbw for nought.

Half the Darwen side were dismissed for 67 when Corrie Jordaan was caught by Jon Fleetwood off Sachdeva for 8.

Four runs later Parekh had Gareth Cordingley lbw for 29, but then Neil Cordingley and Jeff Hacking, with 18 and 19 not out respectively, saw Darwen through to victory for the loss of six wickets. Over in South Ribble, there was a close finish in the Leyland local derby where DAF fell 4 runs short of victory at home to Leyland.

The visitors finished with a winning draw, Leyland DAF 180-7 to Leyland's 183-6.

Batting first, Leyland reached 183 for 6 courtesy of an unbeaten 104 from professional Neil Rimmer. His century came in 136 minutes and included two sixes and eleven fours.

Chris Sim supported him with 23 and both openers Neil Kenyon and Craig Gardner, got into double figures.

Leyland DAF always made an attempt to go for the runs.

Captain David Makinson top scored with 48.

He opened the bowling with Stuart Catterall who made 15 before being caught by Lee Heyes off Lee "Jiggers" Jackson.

Makinson batted 111 minutes and hit 7 fours before being caught and bowled by Ian Oakes two short of his half-century.

Duncan Catterall kept DAF up with the required run rate.

His 41 came in 76 minutes and included six fours. Oakes was the pick of the Leyland bowling attack, taking 3 for 44.

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