ATHERTON have turned the title chase upside down for the second time in two seasons.

On the last day of last season they beat Walshaw to enable Spring View to win the league and on Sunday they beat leaders Little Hulton to open the door for Walshaw to take over at the top.

Two wins for the Bury side over the weekend leaves them five points clear of the Salfordians with two to play.

Victories at home to Darcy Lever and away at local rivals Elton on the final day will give them the championship while Little Hulton must beat strugglers Lostock at home and Blackrod away.

Walshaw pro Jonathan Fielding had another big weekend, taking seven wickets in Saturday's seven-wicket victory over Lostock and then hitting an unbeaten 116 and taking another five victims in a 106-6-run win over Blackrod the next day.

Little Hulton's Mark Penny was even more devastating with the bat on Saturday with an unbeaten 136 to help beat Spring View in a game which went right to the final ball.

Earlier Arindam Sarkar had hit an unbeaten century for View.

Despite a fine 88 from pro Ijaz 24 hours later, Little Hulton could not overhaul Atherton's 168-6, falling 12 runs short with the last wicket being taken with three balls left of the final over.

It was a weekend for big individual performances. Non bigger than Bazid Khan who struck 161 for Astley and Tyldesley in a draw with Darcy Lever on Saturday and followed it up with 84 in a convincing victory over Blackrod.

It puts the A&T pro on course to break the all-time Association run-scoring record in league and Cross Cup games of 1,709 set by Mudassar Nazar in 1976.

Khan stands on 1,668 with two games to play but his achievements at the weekend have given him one record. His 1,626 scored in league alone breaks the previous record set by Andy Hall for Atherton in 1995.

Golborne's Barry Greenwood took six wickets in Saturday's draw with Elton and the next day Stephen Knowles went one better with 7-33 as Standish whittled Clifton all out for 87 to win. Earlier pro Chris Humphries scored 81. Elton's Dexter Fitton hit an unbeaten 63 in his side's victory over Adlington for whom Matthew Taylor took five wickets as did Ian Ross for Golborne as they beat Daisy Hill on Sunday.

Struggling Lostock picked up some vital points in their bid to avoid finishing bottom after a strange outcome in their game against Edgworth on Sunday.

Lostock hit 150-8 on their home ground before Edgworth reached 62-6 and then complained the pitch was dangerous. The umpire disagreed and Edgworth refused to play on and conceded the game.