THE first cross town derby since 2017 ended in a comfortable win for hosts Netherfield who sauntered into the next round of the Lancashire Cup after a resounding eight wicket victory against rivals Kendal.

The eagerly awaited clash looked set to fall victim to the weather and leave both sets of supporters disappointed as the rain curtailed play after just one over.

But the skies cleared and the match was restarted at 4.15pm as a 31 over game, and it was the home side who took the spoils.

Professional Bevan Small was again a key man, his undefeated knock of 58 off 73 balls along with skipper’s Ben Barrow’s 52 off 68 seeing them chase down a revised total of 157 with relative ease after Tom Benn’s 56 had helped Kendal post a competitive 154-4.

A patient crowd waited throughout the delay but it was the home contingent who were celebrating soon after the restart as Small picked up the prize wicket of his opposite number Wes Marshall who was caught behind by Finlay Richardson.

But then Saeed Bariwala and Tom Benn began to frustrate the Netherfield attack with a stubborn second wicket partnership of 58 to haul their side back into contention.

Netherfield broke the visitors’ resistance when Robbie Dwyer bowled Bariwala for 21 off 24 balls, but Ben Phillips and Benn then pushed the score onto 123 with an imposing third wicket partnership of 63.

However, Barrow’s decision to bring Small back into the attack proved pivotal as he picked up two quick wickets, seeing off Phillips who was caught behind by Richardson for 46 before claiming the wicket of Oliver Killiner who picked out James Bowman without troubling the scorers.

Yet Benn was undeterred and he and Terry Hunte pushed Kendal to a competitive final total of 157-4, Benn closing on an undefeated 56 while the veteran Hunte rolled back years with a quick fire 17 off 13 balls.

It looked a reasonable enough total given the conditions and things looked even better for the Shap Road men when they made the early breakthrough, Toby Tyson picking up the wicket of Lewis Edge who was caught by skipper Chris Miller.

However, it proved a false dawn for the visitors as Netherfield from that point dominated the innings, with Barrow and Small posting an imposing second wicket stand of 93 to take Field to the brink of victory.

The partnership came to end when Kuldeep Singh trapped Barrow lbw for 52 but it proved to be only a temporary blip for the home side as Brad Earl then joined Small.

He made light work of the Kendal attack, posting an undefeated 33 off 20 balls and eventually scoring the winning runs as Netherfield completed an eight wicket win.

The victory means Barrow’s side have booked a third round tie away to Leigh, with the match due to take place on June 23.