WESTHOUGHTON will lift the first silverware of the season if they beat Kearsley away in the Twenty20 final tonight.

And captain Rob Houghton is confident, whichever way the game goes, this could be the start of many finals and title challenges over the next few years.

The St George's Oval men, who finished second to Egerton on the final day of last season, have one of the most solid senior playing sections in the Bolton League with the second team also having won their league for the past six years running.

And Houghton says the squad has an average age that means there is no reason they will not be around challenging for major honours for many years to come.

"We've been saying we're a young side for a few years now, but the fact is we still are," he said.

"I look around the dressing room and we've a couple aged 31, 32 and the rest are in their early to mid-20s. The more they mature the better they'll become."

Westhoughton are seventh going into tomorrow's visit to Golborne and Houghton accepts their chances of the title have realistically disappeared.

But he believes third place is a possibility.

"We've only got Farnworth and Kearsley left to play of the teams that were in the Bolton League before this season," he said. "After that we've got all old Bolton Association sides, so if we play like we should we can maybe get top three still.

"But we should have played better earlier in the season when we lost to Blackrod, Walkden and Eagley.

"Playing each other once means you can't afford to lose games; when you play teams twice next year it will be really competitive.

"We've had bad luck with injuries. Chris Trow our wicketkeeper is out for the season after breaking his finger four games into the season – Mark and Paul Atherton have come in and done a really good job for us there.

"Sean Dunning slipped a disc in the warm-up in the first game of the season and he's been a massive loss. He should be back in a couple of weeks.

"We've had a lot of hopes for Michael King since he was nine and he's come in this season and looked a genuine all-rounder.

"He's composed at the crease, bowls steady and fantastic in the field.

"Danny Naylor has matured with the bat and is slowly developing a reputation, and there are not many better amateur fast bowlers than Kieran Edwards.

"If you speak to some of the top amateurs about Kieran they'll say he's in their category now."

Houghton is a big fan of the new-look Twenty20 competition – which is coincidentally sponsored by Westhoughton chairman Gary Dixon's air conditioning company – and has been such a success this season the league is looking to expand it next year.

"It's a great format," said Houghton. "We need to progress it and expand it.

"The coloured kits, pink balls, music and Friday nights bring you a wider audience and the players enjoy playing in front of good crowds. Our first game at Horwich had about 200 on and was a great game – the kind of game you want to play."

KEARSLEY and Westhoughton came through contrasting semi-finals to reach tonight's showdown.

Kearsley found themselves in trouble at 39-4 In a match reduced to 15 overs with less than five overs remaining at home to Lostock last Friday night.

Mo Jameel then smashed 40 runs from just 16 balls to help take the total to 102-5.

Lostock began well in their reply with a quick opening partnership of 23 before wickets started to fall at regular intervals.

Peter Flanagan scored 28 and Jack Scott took 3-14 as they were dismissed 30 runs short of the target.

There was a thrilling finish to the second semi-final at Bradshaw on Tuesday night.

Both sides failed to capitalise on a promising start and Westhoughton's 117 proved just too much for Bradshaw who failed to score off the last ball with four required for victory.