DARWEN suffered the agony of a crushing defeat at Birch Hall as they were second best in their Northern League clash with Leyland.

Chasing Leyland’s 123 all out, the locals suffered a major misfire with the bat and were rolled over for just 55 in 16.4 overs as they failed to cope with the bowling of Luis Reece (5-35) and visiting professional Brett Pelser (5-18) Shaun De Kock went to the third ball of the reply and that take of woe continued down the order with only number 10 Chris Wade (19) reaching double figures.

Things had looked good for the Towers as they bowled Leyland out cheaply despite the top four all looking solid as Wade claimed 5-48 and De Kock 3-34.

Chorley’s day wasn’t much better as they were beaten by Netherfield.

Batting first after winning the toss when the game started 91 minutes late, Chorley managed to post 125-6 from their 37 overs with Iain Critchley top scoring with 63.

And when the locals removed Chris Williams and Cobus Pienaar cheaply there was hope of glory.

But John Huck made 63 not out as the Westmorlanders eased home.