WICKETS, fine catches, and runs aplenty were the orders of the day at Westhoughton as the under-11s side took on Eagley in a thrilling Bolton Cricket League fixture.

Westhoughton skipper Richard Birtwistle won the toss and opted to field first.

Dominic Flood and Harry O’Rourke were the first pairing out at the crease for Eagley and they added 10 in total to the scoreboard despite each losing a wicket apiece (-6 runs each).

Thomas Kidd caught and bowled Flood while Cameron Rich also took a wicket in the first pairing.

Next up to the crease was the partnership of Marcus Jackson and Mason Kernich, and Jackson proved he was not wanting to sit around and wait for runs to come.

From the first ball, he hit a boundary and followed it up in the second over with another four. But despite making 11, his hard work was undone with being out twice.

The first one was to a marvellous catch by Thomas Higham off the bowling of skipper Richard Birtwistle who ended up with a double wicket maiden as the score stood at 224.

Good fielding by Rich ensured that Jackson was out for the second time.

Mason ended the stronger of the two batsmen with one of the highlights being a superb sweeping shot for four in the last over as the pairing ended on 229.

Alex Wilcox and Cian Raymond were the next pairing in the middle and Wilcox did not have time to settle at the crease as the second ball Rich grabbed a wicket.

Ahead of the last pairing of Callum Connor and Ethan Liddle, Eagley were on 238.

The final partnership took the score up to 255 thanks to a couple of boundaries by Liddle.

In the end, Birtwistle did most damage with the ball with two wickets one maiden for 14 runs.

Rich also took 2-12 while Callan Fletcher (1-21) and Kidd (1-17) got in on the act.

In reply, Thomas Higham and Rich started brightly with Rich bagging an early four. But by the end of the their four-over spell they added five runs to the total compared to their opponents who were on 220.

Kirshan Asal, who was in his first cricket match was next up to the crease with Michael Hart. He did well on his first outing and learned a lot from the batting experience.

Ethan Liddle took the first Patel wicket then Hart was run out in the third over before Patel was caught by Jackson in the fourth.

It was the next pairing of Callan Fletcher and Thomas Bateman that gave Westhoughton a chance of chasing down the high total.

Fletcher hit 14 including two boundaries.

Meanwhile, Bateman scored 12 and also did not lose any wickets which were vital in putting them on 225.

Birtwistle battled valiantly until the death with 12 runs in the last pairing with Kidd.

Eagley’s Jackson took two wickets, while Kernich, Fletcher and Liddle took one apiece for Eagley as they wrapped up a convincing win.