FARNWORTH Social Circle picked up where they left off as the second half of the Bolton League Second XI Premiership kicked off.

Social maintained their eight-point lead at the top with an emphatic nine-wicket win at Lower Pools against Heaton.

The home side batted first and were always struggling against fine bowling from Joshua Roscoe (5-42) and Jamie Bohannon (3-11) and managed to post just 101.

Despite the loss of an early wicket, Social raced home in just 15 overs thanks to Stephen French, who made 52, and Tim Barrow (33).

Astley Bridge remain second after a similarly efficient win against Little Hulton who they swept aside by eight wickets.

Mehr Khan was the star with the ball for Bridge, taking 6-41, and he was well-supported by Paresh Patail, who took 3-35, as Little Hulton were dismissed for just 76 despite Billy Schofield hitting 25 and Neil Jarvis 21.

Luke Wainman (40 not out) and Robert Hitchen (21no) soon saw their side home in reply.

The next four clubs are separated by just three points but well adrift of the top with Horwich RMI moving up to third after a tense three-wicket win against Darcy Lever.

Chasing just 82 to win, Horwich were indebted to a superb unbeaten 54 from Zach Hollis to see them home as Toseef Hanif threatened to upset the odds with an excellent spell of 5-38.

Hollis had also been in form with the ball, earlier taking 4-12 to help dismiss Darcy for just 81.

Kieran Barlow backed him up well with 3-17, while Aaqib Pervez top scored with 19.

The other two games were both tight affairs with the sides batting first winning by around 20 runs.

Kearsley made the highest score of the day with a real team effort against Bradshaw as they recovered from 0-2 to post 201 with the recovery being led by Joe Capstick (40), Fernley Davies (38) and Chiranth Shivakumar (35) as Ross Dickinson took 4-22.

Dickinson then led the run chase with a fine 81, adding 102 for the fourth wicket with Ryan Tierney (45) only to collapse again to 181 all out. Jack Scott, with 5-54, and Capstick (3-45) did the damage with the ball for Kearsley.

There was another tense finish at Farnworth where, despite a great fightback from 39-6 as Martin Axford (56) and Victor Walcott (34) added 88 for the seventh wicket, Chris Leyland (4-36) and Oli Dixon (3-22) helped bowl them out for 134 in reply to Westhoughton’s earlier 159.

Eight Westhoughton batsmen reached double figures with Jamie Ramwell making 35, Dixon 23 and Ryley Walton 22 as Walcott also finished off a good day, taking 3-39.

Lostock remain top of the Association Division courtesy of an eight-wicket win against Atherton at Chew Moor. Atherton went in first and, despite Matt Nolan making 51 and James Mulqueeney 39, they were restricted to 142 all out with Asghar Ali the leading bowler, taking 3-16.

Ali then made a useful 27 before Stephen Kaye (52no) and Ryan Crombie (39no) knocked off the remaining runs.

Eagley are still hot on their heels courtesy of a 32-run win against Walkden.

Batting first they found themselves on 71-4, despite 37 from Harry Johnson, before Mike Craig (44) and Craig Faulkner (61) added 124 to help take them up to 206-8 as Luke Wilson returned 5-48 for the visitors.

Cameron Jones (51), Kashiup Lalji (42) and Stephen Thomasson (31) led the chase but a super spell of 6-28 from Craig helped restrict them to 174-7.

Adlington remain third, 14 points behind the top two, after inflicting a 117-run defeat on Little Lever.

Andrew Chamberlain led the run fest with an excellent 122 – his second ton of the season – ably supported by 56 from Andre Leyland and Daniel Brimson (31) as they rattled up 287-3.

Little Lever had a good go at the chase but no one managed to make a significant impact so, despite 35 from Bob Waller, 31 from Gareth Moxon and 30 each from Rory Holmes and Jack Barlow, they were bowled out for 170 in reply.

Daisy Hill cruised to a seven-wicket win against Tonge after dismissing their visitors for 140 at St James Street. Nigel Partington made 51 and Cliff Collings 28, but the rest of the batting struggled to cope with the bowling of Mayank Patel (4-44) and Joe Leeming (4-24).

Mike Leeming, with an unbeaten 61, and Adam Irish (49) then led their side home with 11 overs to spare.

The final game of the day saw Golborne consign Blackrod to the bottom of the table after a hard-fought four-wicket win at Simpsons Fields.

Ewan Phillips, with 4-31, did his best to peg back the home side after Blackrod had been bowled out for 102, but Craig Ward and Ben Lyon, with 23 each, and Jordan Close helped their side to the win.

Close had earlier taken 3-24 as, together with George Corfield (3-15) and Ian Anders (3-46), Golborne bowled their visitors out, despite Andrew Spibey making 28.