CHORLEY suffered a heavy 62 defeat at Birch Hall on Monday to fall back to fourth place in the league table.
In a low-scoring game, Darwen were grateful for a 65-run partnership between Gary Jackson and Keith Semple which laid the foundations for a challenging total.
Chorley pro Stephen John claimed four victims as Darwen struggled to get past 100 before John Cordingley (31) was joined by veteran Jeff Hacking and the pair added a quick 46 to take the total to 153 at the close. The pick of the Chorley bowlers was John, who took four wickets at a cost of 55 runs, while Ross Demming picked up the three other wickets.
The Chorley reply never really got going as Mercer snapped up the early wickets of Tom Smith (4) and Oatley for a duck to leave the innings reeling on 8-2 from nine overs.
Darwen captain Chris Lowe juggled his bowlers and when Hacking came on for his second spell he claimed the final three wickets to fall in just 14 balls.
Batsmen struggle after John stars with ball
Scores: Darwen 153/7 Chorley 91
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