White Coppice 3rd XI recorded a thrilling three-wicket win against Darwen 4th XI on Sunday thanks to an unbeaten 60 from Syed Bukhari.

Darwen decided to bat first after winning the toss, and opener Josh Shaw was run out for two thanks to a smart piece of fielding by Ben Knights.

That was as good as it got for Coppice for a long time as Stephen Mayers (51 not out) and Ellis Hoole (56 not out) piled on the runs.

Archie Fitzgerald looked set to add a third half-century but fell for 40 to a smart caught-and-bowled by James Speakman.

Darwen collapsed from 165-1 to 176-8 thanks to Knights’ 3-27 and James Hurst, who wrapped up the visitors’ innings with 2-4. Special mention also goes to Freddy Caple’s run-out in a team hat-trick.

White Coppice’s reply got off to a terrible start when Speakman could not repeat his heroics with the ball and was dismissed first ball.

Janayed Ilyas (23) and Hurst (46) steadied the ship with a 79-run partnership for the second wicket, but Hurst’s dismissal triggered a collapse that reduced Coppice to 100-5.

If Darwen thought victory was around the corner, Bukhari had not read the script as he smashed an unbeaten 60 from 48 balls, with 48 of those runs coming in boundaries.

He was ably supported by Atiq Ur Rehman, who hit 17 from 24 balls.

Captain Tom Dulson praised his side’s “never-say-die attitude”.

On Saturday, both the 1st XI and 2nd XI saw their games fall victim to the weather.

Jake Smalley’s 1st XI took five points from their abandoned game at Norcross 2nd XI to retain top spot in Division Five.

Norcross won the toss and surprisingly chose to bat first with rain in the air.

However, opener Rahul Sharma smashed the opening ball of the innings from Nathan Shepard to the cover boundary and took 10 runs from the first over.

Norcross reached 17-0 before Anis Haider took three wickets in one magnificent over.

Sharma was the first to go when he had his bails trimmed by an unplayable delivery.

Akhder Warraich was bowled first ball to leave Haider on a hat-trick.

Captain Syed Hasmi survived the hat-trick ball but was bowled for a three-ball duck to leave his team’s innings in tatters.

Haider has previous for taking multiple wickets in an over, having once taken five wickets in an over while playing in Italy.

17-3 quickly became 20-4 when Shepard dismissed Haris Pervaiz for a duck thanks to a good catch in the covers by Chris Maguire, who was back from holiday.

Opener Usman Yousaf hit an excellent 38, including a massive six off Haider over long-off, before becoming one of Tom Sandells’ two victims.

The most economical spell of bowling came from Ryan Adderley, who finished with 0-20 from 12 overs.

Adderley was unable to add to the 10 wickets he took against Norcross across two games last season, but he did not concede a single boundary in his spell.

John Townson chipped in with 2-20, while Haider took the final wicket to finish with 4-32 as Norcross were bowled out for a competitive 122.

Special mention also goes to an outstanding fielding display, which saw several good catches taken despite the slippery conditions.

The Norcross innings was played in intermittent drizzle and the problem came at tea when the covers were rolled onto the wicket.

Two of the covers were not pushed together properly, which meant a significant amount of rain got onto the wicket on a length, making batting dangerous.

Both teams waited around for two hours until the game was eventually called off at 6.15pm. It was a frustrating end to an intriguing contest.

White Coppice 2nd XI also saw their game against unbeaten Preston Royals fall victim to the weather.

Openers Tailip Bhatt and Siddharth Gaikward survived a probing new-ball spell from Ian Aldred and Ibby Akram to put on 78 for the first wicket.

The game changed when Visakh Visakh came on to take 1-2 from three overs, dismissing dangerman Bhatt for 41 from 61 balls.

However, the players came off for rain after 20 overs and never returned to the field.