ELTON reached the final of the Cross Cup yesterday, beating Atherton, the side they toppled to take the trophy last season.

Now they face Standish in this season's climax on August 4 after the Wigan side's surprise win over Little Hulton in the other semi-final.

Standish could only muster 125 against Little Hulton but a magnificent bowling and fielding performance saw them dismiss the champions for 92.

In fact, such was their stranglehold on the Little Hulton batting that the normally free scoring Mike Howard was restricted to just six runs off 28 overs. That came after Standish had dismissed David Ainsworth in the second over, followed by the dangerous Tim O'Sullivan.

Wickets fell regularly after that as Ken Cockram, who had 6-46 and Andy Cumberbatch 4-49 - his 23 overs producing 11 overs - earned them their place in the final.

Little Hulton's only bright spot came when Andy Sutherland took 6-55 in the Standish innings.

The final takes place at Atherton - and that will delight Elton's Gareth Williams, who seems to excel there.

When the same two sides met in the league on Saturday, he took five wickets then yesterday grabbed 6-47 as he and pro Darron Foy played crucial roles.

Williams and Foy helped dismiss Atherton for120 in response to their own side's165-9 but it looked a far different story at a couple of stages during the game.

When Elton batted they suddenly found themselves struggling at 7-3 but Foy quickly put that right with a magnificent innings of 72.

He and Simon Bolton took the score to 119-5 and when Foy had been caught on the boundary going for another big hit, Bolton continued to dominate the innings with a knock of 57 not out.

In reply, Atherton looked comfortable at 40-1 but then wickets began to fall to the combination of Williams and Foy, who finished with 4-38.

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