DARWEN captain Jordan Clarke hailed a ‘proper team performance’ after his side held their nerve to claim the Readers Cup on Sunday.

The Towers looked to be heading to defeat as Leyland cruised to 100 without loss, chasing 198 to win on home turf.

But Clarke had told his charges in-between innings not to panic if they didn’t take early wickets, and his words clearly hit the spot as the bowlers began to peg the home side back, eventually dismissing them for 190.

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“We had said before we went out to bowl not to panic if we didn’t get an early wicket,” said Clarke. “We knew that if we got one we could quickly get a second, and that is how it turned out. After breaking the opening partnership we got wickets at the right time. It was a real team effort, a proper team performance. I’d said last week that we had 11 match winners and so it proved.”

Five Darwen bowlers took two wickets apiece, but the key wicket fell to John Cordingley, who dismissed Lancashire batsman Luis Reece for 60.

“We knew Luis was the big wicket,” said Clarke. “It was an absolutely brilliant caught and bowled to get him from John as well, something like that can change the course of a game.

“When something like that happens you feel like it’s going to be your day. We caught absolutely everything.

“At one point late on Karl Cross hit a six for them and I thought ‘here we go’, but the pressure was on them being at home and we managed to keep it tight and get the job done.”

Sub-pro Daryn Smit was the main man with the bat for Darwen, scoring 80 in a season the South African will never forget, having already plundered 1,195 runs in the Lancashire League.

“He’s just an absolute class act,” said Clarke. “He knows exactly how to play in every situation, that’s why he has got so many runs this year.”

The cup triumph capped a perfect weekend for Darwen, who crushed Preston in the Northern League to move into second ahead of Blackpool, who they play this weekend.