THE early favourites for the Bolton Cricket League title all recorded victories on the historic opening weekend of the new season.

As the weather hindered preparations to the first week's action the big-hitters all avoided any potential upsets.

Farnworth, Farnworth Social Circle and Westhoughton are the front-runners for top spot in this year's newly-constructed league.

And Adlington were the first to test out the strength of Farnworth SC.

Piggott Park skipper Matt Parkinson batted from beginning to end for his side scoring 109 not out. Jake Scicluna added 54 as the hosts set their opponents a target of 255-7.

The Huyton Road side, led by captain Majid Majeed, replied with a respectable 165 – skipper Majeed top scoring with 64no.

But Dave Mather was in unstoppable form taking 7-65 to wrap up an opening-day win.

And speaking of the lack of preparation leading up to the start of the season, Social Circle captain Parkinson said: “We had not had a friendly in two weeks because of the weather but we have been training twice a week and working extra hard to give us the best opportunity to win which we did.

“We went into the game confident and we expected to win but Adlington battled well and really fought for the bonus point which we snatched away from them."

Meanwhile, Rob Houghton and Mike King both knocked 36 as Westhoughton defeated Bradshaw by 18 runs.

Tom Liversedge bowled a six-wicket haul for 33 runs as the Howfeners were all out for 142.

Chris Evans (35no) and Stuart Hornby (30) spearheaded the attack and gave Bradshaw real hope of getting a result as they posted 42-1 early on.

But three wickets soon fell without any more runs scored to post a total of 42-4. Professional Qaisar Abbas led the bowling attack with figures of 4-47 and Westhoughton left their visitors on 124-9 as the overs expired.

Farnworth were given a brief scare by Astley Bridge when they were left chasing a difficult score of 244.

Syd De Silva knocked 60 and skipper Simon Entwistle scored a half-century to set Farnworth a challenging target.

Deputy professional Kamran Younis, formerly of Bradshaw and Little Lever, did the most damage with the ball posting figures of 3-50.

But with Adil Nisar in their ranks Farnworth are never out of any game and the batsman showcased his high quality scoring 110no, which along with Imran Mirza's 46no achieved the target for the loss of only two wickets.

Eagley eased to a seven-wicket win against Little Hulton as Adil Valli (4-36) and Will Shuttleworth (3-7) ran riot with the ball.

The former Bolton Association side were bowled out for 61 and Adam Newton was the only batsman of note, scoring 24.

Agha Salman led the reply hitting 30no as the hosts wrapped up victory for the loss of only three wickets.

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JAKE Waterworth rained misery on Tonge as Golborne drowned their hosts with a 259-run victory.

Following last season's winless campaign Tonge struggled to deal with the batting prowess of Waterworth (59) and deputy professional Adnan Malik (107) as the visitors ran up an astounding 312-run total.

And when spin bowler Waterworth turned his hand to the ball he took eight wickets for only 20 runs. Even Anwar Ul-Haq's (33) resilience with the bat did not stop Tonge being bowled out for 53.

But speaking to The Bolton News Golborne skipper Tom Pantak said his side will remain level-headed despite their emphatic victory over a former Bolton League club.

“We looked at the form they were in and when we arrived their captain told us that they were understrength and that their seconds had conceded their fixture earlier in the morning,” Pantak said.

“Our deputy pro Adil Malik hit a century and really set it up for us.

“Jake Waterworth was fantastic. He has been out playing in Australia during the winter and he looks to have really benefited from that.

“Some of the swing he was getting on the ball was great, he took eight wickets and was even on for a hat-trick at one point.

“I do feel sorry for Tonge, though, as they are struggling but we can only beat what is put out in front of us.

“We can't get carried away or over-confident with this win but a little bit of confidence is always a good thing and hopefully we can continue that when we get back out after our free week next weekend.

“Our aim for the season is to finish in mid-table and try to get in to the top division.”

Elsewhere, Blackrod skipper Chris Sanderson led by example starring with both bat and ball as his side swept aside Standish.

After both opening batsmen were dismissed with low scores, Thusendra de Zoysa (58), Sanderson (78) and Zak Burton (55 not out) all starred to set their visitors a target of 237-4.

Opener Stephen Wright hit 71 off 70 balls in reply but only Rob Cobley (30) and Shakrukh Khan (27) backed him up with decent knocks before they fell 47 runs short of the mark.

Sanderson (3-43) and Matthew Ready (3-40) impressed with the ball for the Vicarage Road outfit.

Little Lever fought bravely but fell just short against a Brett Pelser inspired Horwich.

Professional Pelser hit a half century and Marcus Haydock chipped in with 44 as the Recreation Ground outfit posted 185-9. Curtis Anderton (4-69) and Sachin Rana (3-45) did the most damage with the ball.

In reply, Liam Bones, signed from Edenfield in the winter, recorded a five-wicket haul on debut for only 50 runs.

Pelser posted bowling figures of 3-55 to bowl the Victory Road side out for 171 – Anthony Hilton (46) and Josh Hill (38) the notable batters.

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DAISY Hill were the surprise package of the weekend when they won away at Atherton by five wickets.

Callum Barlow scored 46 and Matthew Gallagher hit 30 as the hosts reached a total of 194-8.

Daisy's professional Adnan Raees was the star of the show, first spearheading the bowling attack with figures of 3-51, before turning his hand to the bat and scoring 65 not out.

Skipper Steve Chilton (33), Omer Qadri (43) and Amjid Khan (23no) all chipped in with sizeable totals as the St James Street outfit chased down the target for the loss of five wickets.

Heaton cruised past Darcy Lever with a comfortable eight-wicket victory

The Hacken Lane side batted first and posted 118 with Callum Waring top scoring with 24.

The damage with the ball was done by Joe Ducker (3-25) and Ahmed Matloob (3-13) who took three wickets apiece.

Opening batsmen Matt Fray (29) and Declan Dudley (23) put on a 55-run partnership in reply, laying the foundations for professional Haroon Farhat (48no) to enter the crease and wrap up the win in less than 20 overs.

Aman Arora starred with the bat for Walkden as they eased past Kearsley.

Despite Mohammed Jameel being in decent form bowling 3-70, Arora still managed to score 75 and Avid Riax also added 31 as a consistent Walkden batting line up tallied 257-8.

Deputy professional Azim Ghumman top scored with 32 in reply but the impressive South African Jonathan Fowler bowled 5-43 in 11 overs and Taylor Hayes took 3-33 as the Springfield Road side bowed out on 143.

Results

Astley Bridge 244, Farnworth 245-2. Farnworth won by 8 wkts.

Atherton 194-8, Daisy Hill 195-5. Daisy Hill won by 5 wkts.

Blackrod 237-4, Standish 190. Blackrod won by 47 runs.

Eagley 65-3, Little Hulton 61. Eagley won by 7 wkts.

Farnworth Social Circle 255-7, Adlington 165. Farnworth SC won by 90 runs.

Heaton 119-2, Darcy Lever 118. Heaton won by 8 wkts.

Little Lever 171, Horwich 185-9. Horwich won by 14 runs.

Tonge 53, Golborne 312-8. Golborne won by 259 runs.

Walkden 257-8, Kearsley 143. Walkden won by 114 runs.

Westhoughton 142, Bradshaw 124-9. Westhoughton won by 18 runs.