RAMSBOTTOM Cricket Club top the Premier Division at the halfway point of the season after dispatching Hilton A 26-6.

Hao Chih and Majid Tubassum both scored maximum nine wins.

In second place are Flixton A after beating rivals Ramsbottom Town A 22-13 with a nine from Stephen Scowcroft.

Mid-table Little Lever Cricket Club A beat bottom of the table Coburg A 27-10 with nines from Ron Durose and Graham Jeffries.

Closer encounters saw Ladybridge A win 22-14 against Radcliffe Cricket Club helped by a nine from Stephen Barber ,and Wharton scrape a 17-16 victory over against Nomads A despite a resisting nine from Fred Turbon.

In Division One top team Burning Desire continue to forge ahead with a 26-5 win against Farnworth SC A missing its top player.

There were maximum nines from both Ben Armstrong and Dennis Collier.

The inter-club Derby between Acre Bottom and Radcliffe Town B resulted in a 26-10 win for Acre Bottom helped by nines from both John Hope and Brian Clements.

Nomads A overcame BRASS A with a nine from Naz Ahmed, Hilton B had a 21-11 win against Wingates, and Coberg B beat Hilton C 23-10.

Roy Costello and Nigel Shields both won nines in Little Lever Cricket Club B’s victory over Meadow Ben A.

Division Two leaders Hilton D suffered their first defeat of the season against second-placed Heaton Cricket Club B which saw the gap between the pair narrow to two points. There were nines from David Hall and Duncan Kay.

Heaton’s C team also had a good 20-12 win against Boyzone helped by a nine from David Jones.

Much closer matches saw Hilton F beat Ladybridge B 21-16, with a nine from Hilton’s Brian Hall, Hilton E just pip Bolton TTC A 19-18 and Top Spinners and BRASS B draw 15-15 with John Scowcroft scoring nine for BRASS.

There were some reasonably level matches in Division Three. Farnworth SC C beat Hilton B 25-10 with nines from Christopher Lord and Ben Wyatt.

Walkden Methodists beat Meadow Ben C 20-16 with a nine from Carl Bennet, and St Paul’s Peel beat Polonia Club by the same scoreline with a nine from Faizan Bhura.

Farnworth SC B overcame Ramsbottom Town C 22-17 with nines from Martyn Garnett and Bernard Dumpelnik.

In Division Four, Irlam Steel narrowly beat Ladybridge C helped by a nine from David Yates, and Meadow Ben D just pipped Albany 19-18 with a nine from Neil Coburn.

Meadow Hill B faced a two-man junior Hilton J but failed to capitalise going down 18-12 with nines from both Hilton’s Nathan and Matthew Donaldson. At the top of the table, third-placed Meadow Hill A climbed a place to second with a 20-18 victory over leaders Hilton I despite a resisting nine from Steven Gao who tops the averages.