FOR the first time in many weeks the weather had the upper hand with most of last weekend's second XI matches in the Bolton League either abandoned or suffering interruptions.

In the Premiership Division only two of the five games produced a positive result, and both of those decided by the Duckworth Lewis Stern method.

One of these was at Springfield Road where Kearsley batted first and posted a useful-looking 176 all out, thanks in the main to Peter Morris, who made 36, and David Morris, who hit 44, with Stephen Pellowe chipping in with a useful 22.

Abdullah Naushai took 3-47 for the visitors with two wickets each for Zakir Bashir, Bilal Khan and Afzal Tariq. Darcy Lever's target was then amended by DLS and they raced to 159-4 in just 17.1 overs, led by a whirlwind unbeaten 62 from Khan and 23 not out from Waqar Ali, despite Peter Morris claiming 3-75.

The only other game concluded saw Farnworth reach a DLS-adjusted target against Little Hulton to win by a margin of four wickets.

The visitors had batted first and were restricted to 117 all out with Mustansar Javed's 21 the highest contribution. Much of the damage was done by Joseph Rushton, who took 4-43, with Victor Walcott also grabbing a couple of wickets.

Farnworth's reply followed a similar pattern with Kevin Rogerson leading the way on 28 as they reached the revised target inside 23 overs, Neil Jarvis taking 3-43.

Of the other games in the division, Heaton were struggling at home to Westhoughton when the rain came, finding themselves on 107-9 thanks to an excellent 4-12 from Niall Dunn, despite Joe Cumberbatch making 32 and Jake Corrigan 26.

At the Recreation Ground, Astley Bridge had recovered from a shaky start to reach 119-2 in the 29th over, thanks to an unbroken stand of 89 between Ady Cooper (50no) and Nazim Patel (42no) when the rain came, and there was no play in the Bradshaw v Farnworth Social Circle game.

The Association Division fared slightly better with three games producing a result, with wins for Walkden, Little Lever and Golborne, and the remaining two abandoned.

Blackrod lost early wickets but recovered to post 197-8 against Walkden at Vicarage Road, thanks in the main to a stand of 102 for the fourth wicket between Matt Baty, who hit 62, and Chris Readey, with 53, after Sean Morris had taken 3-35.

Walkden then made remarkably short work of a revised target as they raced to 137-0 in just 17 overs with both Josh Wilson (86no) and Khalil Lalji (35no) in great form.

Little Lever also won by 10 wickets as they made short work of a depleted Daisy Hill at St James Street.

Mike Leeming played very much a lone hand for the home side, carrying his bat for 25 as wickets tumbled at the other end and Daisy slumped to 70 all out as Tamoor Jehangir took 6-17 in a fine spell.

Lever then raced home in an incredible 4.3 overs as Rory Hulmes hit 34 and Jack Barlow 32.

Golborne battled hard to reach 155 against Tonge, despite Hasib Patel bowling a good spell to take 5-26.

Jack Downs hit 41 and Jamie Foster 25 to help set a defendable target.

Tonge’s target was reduced to 134 but they fell well short on 97-8.

Hasib finished off a good game with 26 and Seb Schofield scored 17 but Tonge never really looked like winning.

Lostock were well on top in the clash of the top two but, having dismissed hosts Eagley for just 58, they were unable to get back on to chase down the runs.

Tom Mills (5-22) and Darren Parr (4-23) did the damage for Lostock.

Adlington managed to reach 169-4 thanks to the efforts of Zac Green (64) and Eddie Haddon (50), but Atherton’s reply was cut short on 26-1.

Only two games were completed on Sunday too as the final qualifying games in the Stafford Trophy were scheduled.

Little Hulton enjoyed a comprehensive nine-wicket win against Lostock at the Old Vicarage after bowling out their visitors for just 117.

The only real resistance came from Lucky Issa, who hit 41, and Neil Flanagan (35) who added 64 for the fourth wicket as Neil Jarvis claimed 4-9.

Roger Kumah led the charge to victory with an unbeaten 61, aided by 26 from Billy Schofield.

Bradshaw won their clash with Tonge by six wickets at Castle Hill.

Luke Davenport, with an excellent 5-23, destroyed the Tonge innings and despite 26 from Nigel Partington they were bowled out for 120.

Once Luke Needham (54) and Ryan Counsell (32) had added 85 for the first wicket, Bradshaw were set up for a comfortable win.