ASTLEY Bridge won their first Birtwistle Cup in 28 years last weekend with a 124-run triumph over Little Lever on away soil.

Winning the trophy for the first time since 1990, and third overall, Bridge batted first on Sunday and found themselves on 123-6, despite Naz Patel having hit 51.

However, a stand of 83 between Alex Lowe (69) and Bilal Khan (31) for the seventh wicket helped them recover to a total of 251.

Little Lever lost wickets at regular intervals in their reply, with only Marcus Barlow really getting going as he made 39, thanks to the efforts of Luke Wainman and Nick Ford who each took four wickets.

In the league, the title race in the Second XI Premiership is going to the wire after the top two, Farnworth Social Circle and Astley Bridge, both won again.

Circle maintained their eight-point lead courtesy of a five-wicket win against third-bottom Westhoughton.

The visitors batted first and apart from Jamie McAndrew, who hit 31, and James Burrow (37) they never got to grips with the Circle bowling led by Joshua Roscoe, who took 4-53, as they were all out for 106.

Cameron Rich then took 4-40 to peg them back in the chase, but Stephen French (31) and Jamie Bohannon (26 not out) saw them home.

Astley Bridge, meanwhile, enjoyed an eight-wicket win at Kearsley after dismissing the home side for just 70 with only Chiranth Shivakumar impressing on 24.

Paresh Patail destroyed the top order with 4-30 and then Ford swept away the tail with 4-2. Ady Cooper then led the chase with an unbeaten 33.

Horwich RMI are 22 points behind Bridge and lead the chasing pack after an emphatic eight-wicket win against Farnworth at The Recreation Ground.

Jacob Whittaker destroyed the visitors' batting with an impressive spell of 6-30 with only last man David Rushton showing much resistance with 26.

Phil Cavill, with an unbeaten 46, and Zach Hollis (28no) soon knocked off the target.

A depleted Little Hulton were swept aside by Heaton at Lower Pools where the home side were also eight-wicket winners.

John Wallwork battled hard for the Villagers but his 45 was pretty much a lone effort as his side were restricted to 134-7.

Heaton then charged to their target in a rapid 11 overs, led by Jake Corrigan who smashed an unbeaten 91 off 43 balls with good support from Jignesh Varsani, who got 21.

Bradshaw edged out Darcy Lever in an exciting game at The Rigbys by a margin of just two wickets.

Chasing 121, they were thankful for the efforts of Ryan Tierney (31) and Jordan Evans (32no) as Bilal Khan (3-25) and Zakir Bashir (3-7) almost snatched the win for Darcy.

Earlier, Tim de Gelder (4-22) and Evans (3-22) had helped bowl Darcy out for 120, despite Arslan Javad hitting a fine 53.

Lostock are now on the cusp of promotion from the Association Division after a five-wicket win at Blackrod saw them extend their lead at the top of the table to 20 points with just four games left.

The home side batted first and a five-wicket haul from Asghar Ali restricted them to a total of 132 all out and then a fine unbeaten 56 from Stephen Kaye saw the leaders to victory.

The biggest win of the day came at Daisy Hill where the home side beat Atherton by 128 runs.

Kieran Farrell led the way with a brilliant 102 not out, with good support coming from Joe Leeming (34) and Adam Irish (32) as the evergreen David Baines took 3-32 in a score of 231-5.

Chris Charters then destroyed the Atherton reply with a devastating spell of 8-41 as they collapsed to 103 all out with only James Mulqueeney showing much resistance in making 23.

Walkden moved into the promotion frame following a 58-run win against Golborne at Simpsons Fields.

Batting first they built up a score of 176-9, thanks mainly to the efforts of Tom Gaskell (48) and Mo Razzaq (45), while Ben Lyon took 4-38 for the home side.

Razzaq then starred with the ball as he took 6-49 to rip the heart out of the Golborne batting with only David Szostock, who made 29, and George Corfield (27) making much headway.

Little Lever had a seven-wicket win against Tonge at Castle Hill where they recovered from 36-3 to chase down their target of 174 without losing another wicket.

Callum Rushmore, with 87no, and Tuseef Ahmed (52no) shared an unbroken stand of 139 to see their side home with 15 overs to spare.

Earlier Tonge had been dismissed for 173 after Hasib Patel had hit an excellent 72 with an amazing 52 extras also helping the final score as Rushmore completed a good day with 4-49 and Tamoor Jahangir took 3-30.