THE Blackburn and Darwen cricket teams have been busy in recent weeks and have enjoyed a mixed bag of results.

The Under 11s made it third time lucky with a well-deserved and handsome victory over Hyndburn after narrowly missing out in the first two games against Fylde and Burnley.

In what was a fine all round performance, with some excellent bowling and fielding, Blackburn's top order showed great discipline to reach the target of 32 runs with ease.

Josh Brown and Alex Fenwick did the damage to Hyndburn's top order, sharing five wickets between them in the opening 10 overs.

The tail was cleaned up by Haris Hussain, Joel Prescott and Jack Davies in quick time.

In reply, Kyle Nield (15no) and Suban Jalal (11) got Blackburn and Darwen over the line.

The Under 13s have won all three of their fixtures, topping the table and progressing to the knockout stages.

Star man has been Harry Caton, who scored a comined total of 346 runs in just three visits to the crease - an unbeaten 176 his best score but also weighing in with 109 (no) and 71.

While Caton's was the standout performace in the win over Lancaster and Morecambe, Hassan Patel also scored a half-century as BwD posted 233 off 35 overs with Lancaster and Morecambe falling exactly 100 runs short in their reply.

The second match was a thrilling game against Wyre at Feniscowles, where some poor bowling and fielding allowed Wyre to rack up an impressive 227. However, BwD chased that down with eight overs to spare; Sam Aspin and Ali Musa ably assisting Caton who struck 176no.

In their final and deciding fixture, again at Feniscowles, Rossendale won the toss and put BwD in to bat, and with Caton running himself out on 71 the hosts only managed 138.

However, great bowling from Tom McAnn, Sam Aspin, Neer Patel and Freddie Pickford (4-18) and superb fielding throughout saw Rossendale dismissed for 83 and BwD progress from their group.

The Under 15s lost their opening match against Lancaster and Morecambe but bounced back to beat Rossendale.

In the opening match, Lancaster and Morecambe scored 273-6 from their alloted 45 overs with Daniel Fenwick (2-48) the pick of the BwD bowlers.

Despite some impressive batting performances - Shazaib Naeem scoring 81 from 64 balls and Charlie Elwood smacking 47 off 25 - with Luke Entwistle (45) and Owen Elwood (35) both contributing, BwD were bowled all out for 258.

However, they were in fine form against Rossendale at Cherry Tree Cricket Club.

After being put in to bat, openers Shazaib Naeem and Luke Entwistle raced to 57 inside the opening seven overs before Naeem was bowled for an aggressive 39 from 28 deliveries. Wicket-keeper Entwistle anchored the innings with a mature 66, receiving support from stand-in captain Owen Elwood (42), Robert Marsh (36), Adeel Mohammed (25no) and Charlie Elwood (17) as the hosts racked up 268-8 from their 45 overs.

Rossendale skipper Nick Round made a sound 53 in response but fought a losing battle as his side were bowled out for 140. Amaan Ughradar took 5-13 with the other wickets shared evenly.

The next test for Blackburn with Darwen U15s will be against Fylde with Blackpool at Lytham Cricket Club today (11am start).

Results:

Under 11s

Fylde 107-4 (35 overs) BwD 97-9 (35 overs); Burnley 197 ao (35 overs) BwD 155 ao (35 overs); Hyndburn 31 all out BwD 32 - 2

Under 13s

BwD 233-6 Lancaster and Morecambe 133-6; Wyre 227 BwD 230 - 6; BwD 138 Rossendale 83