Astley Bridge captain Matthew Hargraves hailed the batting heroics of Rick Northrop and Haaris Akhtar for contributing to one of his best ever wins in cricket.

On Saturday, Bridge claimed an outstanding two-wicket home success over Eagley, breathing much-needed life into their battle against relegation from the Anthony Axford North West Cricket League’s Premiership division.

The hosts, bottom of the table with only one win at the time, were set a target of 209 as Eagley’s professional Ayaz Tasawar top-scored with a measured 57 in 208-6.

Akhtar returned figures of 1-26 from seven overs, but his contribution with the bat was much more significant following an early collapse to 64-7 in the 25th over of the reply.

At that stage, Eagley’s teenaged left-arm spinner Luca Doyle had claimed all seven wickets.

In the grand scheme of things, Doyle’s brilliant 7-48 from 15 overs - having taken the new ball - was overshadowed because of the efforts of Northrop and Akhtar, who inspired a win which will be long remembered down at Sharples Park.

The pair shared 137 for the eighth wicket inside 18 overs, with Northrop finishing with 88 off 70 balls and Akhter 55 not out off 53.

“We’ve got a guy who’s scored thousands and thousands of runs batting at number eight and a guy with him who is better than a number nine,” said Hargraves.

“Rick did what Rick of old could do. Haaris was brilliant. Backs against the wall, it was a remarkable partnership.

“They never gave a chance. It seemed like everything Rick hit was going to the boundary or for runs somewhere.

“We didn’t bowl amazingly, but on that wicket I think 210 was slightly below par. The way they were going, I thought we did well to peg them back.

“At 60-7, you’re struggling a bit. But with Rick and Haaris still there, you still have belief.

“It’s going to be up there - it was just a great win.

“The Hamer Cup (final, 2022) win against Westhoughton a few years ago is the pinnacle, but this is definitely one of the best wins and run chases I’ve been a part of.” Wicketkeeper Hargraves, batting at 10, actually hit the winning boundary after Northrop had fallen to leave the score at 201-8 with eight still required to win.

“The job wouldn’t have been done without me at the end, would it!”laughed Hargraves, who in truth was more keen to praise his team-mates’ efforts.

He also praised umpires Michael Wilkinson and Bill Slinger.

“Eagley opened with two spinners, and we found it difficult,” continued Hargraves. “But when they finished, they brought on two pace bowlers and it was a bit easier to negate.

“I kept looking at the Duckworth Lewis because it was raining, and I was thinking, ‘If we can just get a bit closer to that’. I think we were 130 and the Duckworth Lewis was 150 or 160. I thought, ‘If we can just have a couple of good overs here, we have a chance because they might even bring us off’.

“But the umpires, credit where credit’s due, they ploughed on and kept us out there because it was drizzling all the way through the back end of our innings. It was a great game to be a part of, and they contributed to it.

“We showed a bit of fight against Little Lever a couple of weeks in the Hamer Cup semi-final, and I said to the lads, ‘I don’t care if it’s one down or nine down, let’s make sure we win today’.

Astley Bridge (35 points) are now 20 points from safety with nine games of the season remaining.

“Hopefully it will give us a bit of momentum,” said Hargraves.

“If we can get a few wins on the board pretty quickly, we have every chance of staying up.”

Asked why things have been so tough so far this season for his side Hargraves added: “It’s been a combination of a few things - a bit of everything. We’ve had some injuries.

“I broke my foot and missed the first six weeks, and Saturday was Rick’s first game back having hurt his Achilles. We’ve had a few other availability issues.

“We haven’t had a great deal of luck either.

“But I think the luck sort of flipped for us this weekend.”

Saturday July 27 - first-team fixtures. Premiership: Blackrod v Astley Bridge, Eagley v Little Lever, Lostock v Farnworth, Padiham v Farnworth Social Circle, Ribblesdale Wanderers v Kearsley, Tonge v Salesbury. Championship: Barnoldswick v Atherton, Baxenden v Feniscowles, Oswaldtwistle Immanuel v Brinscall, Read v Earby, Walkden v Cherry Tree.